In 1798, economist Thomas Malthus predicted that population growth would eventually outstrip food production leading to misery, famine, disease, and war. The same fears led to the One-Child Policy that was enforced in China from 1980 until 2015. Oddly enough, most of the...
My recent white paper (The Most Important Topic in Economics) discussed the interplay between demographics and productivity enhancement in determining future economic growth. Given little or no growth in the working population, we will enjoy satisfactory economic and income growth only if we...
Many of my posts have bemoaned lackluster productivity growth in the U.S. and questioned the reasons for our poor showing given the large investments that have been made in technology. As a reminder, economic growth is equal to the sum of increases in...
While the U.S. certainly has many shortcomings, I am constantly amazed that Americans are so angry and divided, especially given the strength of our economy, the huge gains in life expectancy over the last century, and the fact that we enjoy a high...
Progress in the economy is a function of two variables: growth in the labor force and increases in the amount of each worker’s output, also known as productivity growth. Population growth in 2021 was only .1% and it is expected to average just...
