From EconSouth Fourth Quarter 2013, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
The U.S. economy has grown slowly since the recession ended in 2009, more slowly than in past recovery periods. The depth of the recession, and the financial crisis that exacerbated it, surely explain this sluggishness – right? Not according to some economists, who think we have a bigger problem on our hands: that the underlying dynamics of the economy are impaired and our ability to innovate new technologies is the root cause of the current stagnation.
In other words, they argue, slow growth is the new normal. But other economists take the opposite stance. These economists say that technology is improving so rapidly that machine intelligence and automation will replace much of human labor. And while overall growth will improve, technology is bound to radically reshape our economy, making it more unequal. Which story is correct? Let’s look at some evidence found in long-run trends.
[full page view by hitting the lower right hand corner icon]
To print Scribd document:
- Click “Download.”
- Open with “Adobe Reader”.
- Select “Print”.
source: http://www.frbatlanta.org/documents/pubs/econsouth/13q4_technology.pdf