This article indicated that middle class wages have not been rising as quickly as they have in the past and a lot of this slow down could be attributed to a slowdown in productivity growth. As we have learned in class in order to continue to increase the standard of living the only sustainable way is through increases in productivity. However, labor productivity has been growing at 1.3% a year compared to 2.8% in the last 10 years resulting in lagging standard of living growth.
On the other hand, people in various tech jobs and circles claim that these outdated measures do not fully capture the benefits of these software products and thus are not calculated in productivity or increasing standard of living. However, results from more extensive research have shown that countries with highly developed tech communities and those with less developed have both felt the slowdown in productivity that has occurred. While the tech community is not the only sector under criticism for the slowdown it does take up 7.7% of the 15% slowdown that has occurred. As the author said, Silicon Valley does not seemed to have saved us just yet.
Do you think that its possible that we are currently hitting a technological plateau? Could these countries be hitting their own steady states due to the lack of breakthroughs in new technological advancements? Do you think there need to be better measures in place for this sector or are the indirect measures good enough?
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/upshot/silicon-valley-has-not-saved-us-from-a-productivity-slowdown.html?ref=economy&_r=1
It's hard to believe that we are currently hitting a technological plateau. In the last 30 years, amazing advances have taken place. I feel that many of the advances in the current age have not been targeted towards consumers as much. For example, the introduction of the internet impacted the entire world, but progress tends to happen now in areas that are not as easy to see, such as with medical research.
ReplyDeleteI think looking at Apple as a example in terms of producing breakthroughs in technology, they don't always revolutionize, but rather they're products evolve to several improved versions with better specs to sustain their contribution in the technology sector. Tesla are releasing a new cheaper version of their flagship product whereby showing the evolution of the product line. So I feel this issue is temporary and things should look better in the technology industry over the next few months.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we are hitting a "technological plateau". It seems like there are constantly new discoveries in how to make processes, consumer products, and more increasingly faster it seems like on an exponential basis. I agree that the measures used may be outdated and don't fully capture productivity growth in the 21st century. We are no longer a primarily manufacturing economy where these indirect measures could be an effective measurement, so I think a more direct measurement is necessary.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the above comments. It would seem that our technological advancements are not always in areas where they are directly affecting the consumer in an astronomical way. It is hard for me as a consumer to remember that creating a faster processor or advancing the iPhone technology in small ways takes a lot of new technological advancement. With this being said, I think that with more direct standards of measurement in these areas we will be able to see the advancements in a more efficient light and be able to measure just how much the technological industry is doing for us.
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