Lecture 9/23

Main Points: Mechanical/Computational Power is increasing. For example, the first computer was heavier, more expensive, and stores a lot less than an ipad.

We're also better off because there are lower crime rates than there were in say 1650. Rizzo showed the example of the murder rates decreasing dramatically. I am still not entirely sure how our economic growth caused a decrease of murder rates, I guess maybe because it costs more now to kill people. We also have fewer wars (debatable, there are tons of civil wars in Africa and the Middle East) I can see how there are fewer casualties than there were during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War because of better medical care. While just as many people may be shot, not all wounds are necessarily fatal the way they were back then.

Wealth +Toleration of Diversity=Economic Growth. Although everyone says the suburbs are dull, they gave people the opportunity to become more equal and independent. They allowed people to flourish and be different Best example of this: Children of immigrants move there from the tenemants and became the parents of hippies. When I think of suburbs now, I think of the one I grew up in where everybody was either Asian, Jewish, or both, but now that I think about it, people came from lots of different backgrounds such as first generation immigrant versus second generation immigrant, and I could argue that since it is one of the wealthiest suburbs in the country, the fact that people were able to be different allowed them to flourish.

Are we wrecking the planet?
Rizzo insists that we are not. Rivers, seas, and lakes are all much cleaner than they were a long time ago. Environmental Protection is also a higher priority because people have more time, money, and resources to devote to it.
-If we had reduced climate change by 1.5% each year since 1900, we'd still only be making 6000 a year, and that would not have necessarily have been a "better" outcome because we'd have less growth, resources, and improvements in our way of life, and there's no way to prove that the planet would have been cleaner than it was in 1900.


Is there a great stagnation in the USA?
-Most of the recent major economic growth has been in countries with a lot of poor people such as China and India.
-In the USA there has not been that much improvement since my generation and my parent's generation. For example, computers existed when my mom was in college, but they weren't as portable and there was less storage space, and it was less convenient to use. But the technology was still there, whereas the idea of a computer was completely unheard of in my grandparent's generation.

Classical Growth Theory

-The use of increased productivity with more people. Now that people are having fewer kids there's less productivity.


Modern Technology Theory

-Technology is now outpacing the number of people who can use it. (is it number of people?)