Material progress has transformed human existence in the last
two centuries, raising income and health to levels that would have
been unimaginable to earlier generations. In the twentieth century,
western societies became used to rates of economic growth which, in
a generation, doubled standards of living. The notion of material
progress is one of the most powerful and attractive ideas of the
modern Western world.
For it to be delivered, economies need to grow year in year out.
When they don't, or when growth disappoints, as happened in the
1930s and in the last eight years, belief in the idea of progress
suffers. Today, many parents worry whether their children will be
able to match their lifestyle, let alone exceed them. Economists
worry that the world may have entered a prolonged period of low or
no growth, of so-called secular stagnation.
