scholarly journals The History of Technological Anxiety and the Future of Economic Growth: Is This Time Different?

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 31-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Mokyr ◽  
Chris Vickers ◽  
Nicolas L. Ziebarth

Technology is widely considered the main source of economic progress, but it has also generated cultural anxiety throughout history. The developed world is now suffering from another bout of such angst. Anxieties over technology can take on several forms, and we focus on three of the most prominent concerns. First, there is the concern that technological progress will cause widespread substitution of machines for labor, which in turn could lead to technological unemployment and a further increase in inequality in the short run, even if the long-run effects are beneficial. Second, there has been anxiety over the moral implications of technological process for human welfare, broadly defined. While, during the Industrial Revolution, the worry was about the dehumanizing effects of work, in modern times, perhaps the greater fear is a world where the elimination of work itself is the source of dehumanization. A third concern cuts in the opposite direction, suggesting that the epoch of major technological progress is behind us. Understanding the history of technological anxiety provides perspective on whether this time is truly different. We consider the role of these three anxieties among economists, primarily focusing on the historical period from the late 18th to the early 20th century, and then compare the historical and current manifestations of these three concerns.

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 235-242
Author(s):  
Manabu Eto

Japan has a long history of systematically organizing and carrying out joint research projects between industrial, government and academic institutions. Even competing industries have cooperated in these research projects, and such cooperation has greatly helped Japan's economic progress. The country's technological progress has equalled in some areas and surpassed in others that of countries in the West, and, with the continued advancement of big business, Japan has arrived at a stage at which it can continue its technological progress on its own. This is causing great changes in the meaning and impact of cooperative research endeavours. In this paper the author discusses the problems and possible solutions involved in developing the current cooperative research systems into efficient systems which meet the needs of this new generation of research. He also outlines the potential influence of these changes on the procedures and policies in the current research system, and on user interaction and the results achieved. The paper also constructs a model of a cooperative research system which can meet the country's current requirements.


Author(s):  
O. Mashevskyi

The chronological boundaries of the collective monograph cover a long historical period, which extends to the era of European Modernism and continues to the modern (current) history of European Postmodernism. The key thesis of the team of authors of the monograph is the idea of systemic belonging of Ukraine to European civilization as its component, which interacts with other parts of the system. The first chapter of the peer-reviewed collective monograph "European receptions of Ukraine in the XIX century" shows the reflection of the Ukrainian problem in the German-language literature of the first half of the XIX century, taking into account new archival document, the development of Ukraine’s relations with other Slavic peoples is traced, and the peculiarities of Ukrainian-Bulgarian relations are considered as a separate case study. An interesting paragraph of the collective monograph devoted to cultural, educational and scientific cooperation of Dnieper Ukraine with European countries. This information illustrates well how the Industrial Revolution radically changed the face of the planet, brought new scientific experience that gave room for the development of the capitalist system, and with them, the Industrial Revolution brought social problems, environmental disasters that still cannot be solved. Thomas Malthus (1766-1834) formulated the "iron law of wages", according to which workers can receive only a living wage. The second chapter of the collective monograph "The Ukrainian Question and Ukraine in the European History of the Twentieth Century" presents an integrated narrative of Ukrainian national history in the light of the European history of the two world wars and their consequences. The First World War, or the Great War, undoubtedly became a turning point in European history and, accordingly, in the national histories of European countries. The historical experience of the Ukrainian national liberation struggle of the Ukrainian people for the right to European development is covered in the paragraph of the collective monograph "Ukrainian Diplomatic Service 1917-1924". The vicissitudes of Stalin's industrialization and collectivization and their impact on the Ukrainian SSR's relations with European states in the 1920s and 1930s are highlighted in terms of continuity of ties with Europe. A separate regional example of the situation is covered on the example of the history of Transcarpathia on the eve of World War II. The third chapter of the collective monograph "Independent Ukraine in the European integration space" highlights the features of Ukraine's current positioning in Europe. After the collapse of the USSR, ideological obstacles to the development of globalization were overcome. The American political scientist F.Fukuyama in his work "The End of History" concluded the final victory of liberal ideology. This section of the peer-reviewed collective monograph also highlights the position of the international community on the Crimean referendum in 2014, analyzes the policy of Western European countries on the Ukrainian-Russian armed conflict on the example of the policy of Germany, France and Austria. The research result is a separate model of reality, which is reproduced with the help of a certain perception and awareness of the historian. In this sense, the author's team of the monograph has achieved the goal of creating a meaningful narrative that highlights the place of Ukraine at different stages of modern and postmodern European history. From the point of view of the general perception of the narrative offered to the reader, the authors of the collective monograph managed to harmonize individual stylistic features in a conceptually unified text, the meanings of which will be interesting to both professional historians and students and the general readership.


Author(s):  
Paul Frijters ◽  
Christian Krekel

Around the world, governments are starting to directly measure the subjective wellbeing of their citizens and to use it for policy evaluation and appraisal. What would happen if a country were to move from using GDP to using subjective wellbeing as the primary metric for measuring economic and societal progress? Would policy priorities change? Would we continue to care about economic growth? What role would different government institutions play in such a scenario? And, most importantly, how could this be implemented in daily practice, for example in policy evaluations and appraisals of government analysts, or in political agenda-setting at the top level? This book provides answers to these questions from a conceptual to a technical level by showing how direct measures of subjective wellbeing can be used for policy evaluation and appraisal, either complementary in the short run or even entirely in the long run. It gives a brief history of the idea that governments should care about the happiness of their citizens, provides theories, makes suggestions for direct measurement, derives technical standards, shows how to conduct wellbeing cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses, and gives examples of how real-world policy evaluations and appraisals would change if they were based on subjective wellbeing. In doing so, the book serves the growing interest of governments as well as non-governmental and international organizations in how to put subjective wellbeing metrics into policy practice.


2012 ◽  
pp. 97-124
Author(s):  
Anastassios D. Karayiannis ◽  
Ioannis A. Katselidis

The introduction of new technology may have significant effects on the level of employment and the real wage rate; effects that have received considerable attention even from the economic thinkers of the classical period. This paper aims to analyze and evaluate the various views and arguments of early classical and neoclassical economists concerning the technological effects on wages and employment. On the one hand, the economists of the early decades of the 19th century (mainly between 1800 and 1840) had recognized and analyzed many of the effects of technology on labourers' welfare. On the other hand, early neoclassical theorists of the period between 1890 and 1935 tried to expand on the classical views and to develop their own theoretical arguments, based on new perceptions like the marginal productivity theory. The main conclusion drawn is that most of early classical and neoclassical economists recognized and specified the temporary adverse effects of new technology on labour (e.g. short-run unemployment), but, at the same time, they argued for the beneficial long-run consequences of technological progress on labourers' welfare.


1981 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Schofield Saeger

The history of the encomienda is an oft' told tale, although certain questions about the institution still provoke debate. Even the Paraguayan encomienda has received conscientious scholarly attention, most of which concentrates on the Habsburg period rather than the eighteenth century, when the institution had been eliminated in many areas.But in eighteenth century Paraguay the encomienda was still an important institution. Members of the provincial elite placed great value on its possession. Since high position in the province was synonymous with encomendero status, membership in the encomendero class was exceedingly important. The crown's decision to abolish the system in the 1770s had important consequences for the future of Paraguay. In the short run it meant a gain for royal interests; in the long run it spelled disaster for the Spanish crown.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-53
Author(s):  
Maik Huettinger ◽  
Jonathan Andrew Boyd

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to approach the issue of taxation of robotic process automation (RPA) through an interpretive lens provided by both Adam Smith and Karl Marx. Both scholars have affected the understanding and attitudes of generations of economists, and their ideas have considerable influenced modern economic policy. It will be argued that Smith and Marx have much to offer to help contemporary economists understand the taxation of RPA, and their writings on machines, automation, and their impact on the human labor force will be discussed from their primary texts. Design/methodology/approach The paper interprets the works of Marx and Smith in relation to contemporary debates on automation, particularly, proposals to tax technological innovations to offset the social costs of automation’s displacement effects. Findings In the case of Adam Smith, there is not enough evidence to suggest that he would support a specific taxation of RPA; however, he very well might agree with a modest taxation of capital goods. Marx would very likely support a taxation in the short-run, however, would be inclined to caution that the ownership of robots should in the long run be transferred to society. Originality/value This paper uses primary texts from the discipline of history of economic thought to spark a discussion about compensating the externalities of technological innovation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 51-59
Author(s):  
Nura Sani Yahaya ◽  
Muhammad Bilyaminu Ado ◽  
Muhammad Ibrahim Datti

This study examined the effect of financial development, fossil energy use, economic progress, and FDI on environmental pollution in Nigeria from 1981 – 2014 using the ARDL technique. The outcome of the bond test reveals the presence of a long-run association on the variables of the model. The short-run estimate shows that all the variables positively influence CO2. The result of the long-run analysis further indicates that financial progress, fossil fuel, and GDP accelerates the level of CO2 discharge. However, FDI does not explain environmental pollution in Nigeria. Hence, the study suggests that government and policymakers should formulate policies to improve financial development designed to mitigate CO2 discharge by giving directives to financial institutions that all credits allocation should be toward the purchase of low emission technologies and domestic appliances. In addition, environmentalists should enlighten citizens on the danger of environmental pollution and ways to reduce it through public lectures and seminars.


1994 ◽  
Vol 33 (4I) ◽  
pp. 433-461
Author(s):  
Michael Lipton

Malthus (1798, 1803, 1824) wrote during the world's first period of sustained and widespread growth in real income per person: the "Northern" agro-industrial revolution of 1740-1970. When he wrote, it was widely believed that not only growth, but also poverty reduction, depended substantially on what he called "schemes of improvement". Malthus's central claim is that these could not reduce poverty in the long run, unless fertility declined. This, he believed, was because any short-run success of "schemes of improvement" in reducing poverty would increase the rate of population growth among the poor. This would raise the supply of labour and the demand for food. Owing to diminishing marginal returns to extra hectares-plus-persons as new, inferior land was brought into cultivation, "the proportion between the price of labour and the price of provisions" would then fall, thus returning the poor to poverty. Unless fertility fell, the long-term well-being of the poor could not improve much. Being largely dependent on the real wage, it was boxed in by the Malthus rectangle (Figure 1) of population, labour supply, land, and food, and the interactions among them.


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