Geography 3422A/B Study Guide - Diminishing Returns, Karl Benz
11 Mar 2013
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The decline of innovation and economic growth3/11/2013 10:47:00 am. The decline of innovation and economic growth robert j. gordon. Between 1891 and 2007, the us achieved a robust 2% annual growth rate of output per person. As the impact of the late-19th-century inventions faded away around 1970, the computer revolution took over: the bulk of these benefits came early in the electronics era: 1960s mainframe computers churned out bank statements and telephone bills, reducing clerical labor. 1970s memory typewriters replaced repetitive retyping by armies of legal clerks. 1980s pcs with word-wrap were introduced. 1990s the climax was the marriage of communications to the computer as the internet. 2002 most computer-related inventions have resulted not in transformation but in miniaturization like hand- held devices. We may have now left behind the era of truly important changes in our standard of living: pharmaceutical research appears to be entering a phase of diminishing returns.
