Category: 02. Scope now

The universal ‘S curve’

A splendid ‘big picture’ article by Eben Bayer, published by Forbes Business magazine and entitled ‘Get Ready For An Explosion Of Productivity In Biotechnology’ – it clearly shows how the ‘S curve’ applies to the life and times of just about everything – think humans, empires, computers, products, fads, services, machines, companies, economies – so …

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Forget productivity growth in future?

The following are notes jotted down whilst reading a lecture (40 x A4 pages long) given by Adair Turner, Chair of INET (Institute for New Economic Thinking) in Washington DC in 2018 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Summary: The lecture covers the possible long term impact of rapid technological progress – i.e. work automation and AI – on the nature of …

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NHS wastes £40 billion every year!

Different parts of the NHS forever claim that they’re working to capacity – that they cannot cope without the injection of significantly more resources, funded by the taxpayer, not some ‘magic money tree’ But what is the capacity of each of these parts, and the total NHS? Nobody knows – so the assumption is made …

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The coming productivity boom

Why is the American economy not as productive as it used to be? Why is US GDP growth below 2% per annum, well short of the 3.5% it averaged before the Great Recession of 2008? Bret Swanson, President of Entropy Economics, and Michael Mandel, an economist, believe ‘the long productivity drought is almost over, as …

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Pareto at large

If GDP measures are to be believed, some 80% of global GDP is generated by less than 20% of the global population At global level, the top 20% of economies would appear to have productivity levels at least three to four times better than the rest, the other 80% – and this gap is widening …

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Baumol’s disease

Professor William Baumol of Princeton University recently died aged 95 ‘Baumol’s disease’ is thought by some to explain the current productivity puzzle afflicting most developed nation’s economies, especially their labour-intensive service industries e.g. healthcare, education, performing arts Quoting from an article by George Will in The Washington Post, Senator Daniel Moynihan explained this disease: “The number …

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It’s the rest, not the best, that’s the problem

The Brooking Institute’s Martin Neil Baily and Nicholas Montalbano considered the causes of the current global productivity puzzle recently “The most promising sign for future growth is that the most productive firms are growing faster than the rest – the frontier is still moving out – but the diffusion of best practices is not pulling the …

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UK public sector wastes £120bn – every year!

A new report from the Taxpayers’ Alliance claims that the UK public sector wastes £120 billion each and every year And this is despite claims of tightening belts and being forced to close libraries or fire lollipop ladies. It’s equivalent to a cost of some £4,500 for every British family. They say: “A relentless war on …

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