So this is a series recounting the basics 2/n
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Scarcity exists - people have infinite wants, resources are limited 3/n
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Prosperity can roughly be equated to purchasing power and choice of goods/services for that purchasing power. 4/n
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Productivity refers to the amount of goods/services that can be produced in a unit of time. More productivity,more goods for same effort 5/n
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Increasing productivity requires technological or process innovations - how to produce more of something with less/same effort 6/n
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I'm abusing Peter Thiel's terminology here, but one can think of Technological/process innovations as '0 to 1' 7/n
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And one can think of increasing size of markets, more labor, etc as '1 to n' processes that increase efficiencies and incentivize trade 8/n
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'The Industrial Revolution' refers to period of technological AND process innovation that resulted in HUGE productivity increases 9/n
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All subsequent economic growth by those on the frontier relied on continual innovation in technology and processes of production 10/n
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1st time in human history, through ingenuity that created the technological/process breakthroughs, humans escaped the Malthusian Trap 11/n
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This resulted in an explosive growth in human population as food production outpaced population by a lot! 12/n
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And basically, we are still in an environment of increasing agricultural (and otherwise) productivity gains outpacing popn growth 13/n
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Some libertarians think escape from Malthus is permanent, but considering this event is barely 250 yrs old, lets not be sanguine! 14/n
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So, when a journalist/Davos personality shares some politically correct bromide and relates it to econ growth, ask yourself these qns 15/n
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1) Is the proposal relevant to technological and process innovation? 2) Has the proposal any support from economic history? 16/16
End of conversation
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good formulation. Anyone aspiring to influence policy should be forced to enumerate their thoughts on causes of prosperity.
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They probably have a theory of Providence simply providing for the bounty of the world. lol
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Referring to the generic pontificator on these matters.
End of conversation
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