Competition in the Digital Age
This year's Nobel Prize in Economics has been shared by Bill Nordhaus and Paul Romer for "integrating innovation and climate with economic growth." That is one way to thread the needle to link these fine recipients and I applaud the Nobel Committee for finding a way to do it. That said, there is a real …
Continue reading "A Nobel Prize for Breaking Through Hurdles Placed by Economists"
It is 10 years ago today that the most significant consumer technological innovation, possibly of the last 50 years, was introduced. Here is Steve Jobs introducing it: If you have never seen it, you should watch. The original iPhone is a shadow of its counter-parts today. But the design is essentially the same. All mobile …
From what I can gather from several recent articles, many serious pundits have arguments with the views of ‘techno-optimists.’ A techno-optimist appears to be somebody who has blind faith in the power of technology to cure all ills, and particularly, to create economic growth. (See e.g., here, here, here, here, or here, and there are many more...) …
Continue reading "Ten Open Questions for the Techno-Optimist"
Human existence changed irreversibly after the invention of indoor plumbing and the municipal supply of water and sewage. The advent of electricity also changed life as we know it, and so did automobiles, the telephone, penicillin, pasteurization, the polio vaccine, and much more. In his book, The Rise and Fall of American Growth; The US …
We don't speak of it very often but economists face a fundamental challenge with respect to innovation: if innovation is something no one has anticipated, then the (Savage) axoims upon which we base our rational choice decision-making cannot apply. Let me explain. Decision-making is all about actions and their consequences. Leonard Savage created the framework …
Continue reading "Adult Colouring Books Remind us that Innovation lies outside economics"
Digitopoly 