Summary of The Rise and Fall of American Growth

Many factors have retarded growth since the 1970s. One of the most important is rising inequality. During 1917 to 1948, the gap between the wealthiest and poorest Americans decreased. Since 1970, that pattern reversed, as the top 10 percent of income earners pulled away from the bottom 90 percent. In 2013, income for the bottom 90 percent was lower than it had been in 1973, even as the income of the top 10 percent almost doubled.

Optimists refer to this as the Singularity: the moment when AI creates a cascade of innovations, changing life on earth forever. [9]

For example, changes in communication technology are unlikely to have large-scale effects on life expectancy.

One of these is the Social Progress Index, developed by Michael Green, executive director of the Social Progress Imperative. [1] The SPI uses more than 50 social and environmental indicators.

GDP measures only goods and services exchanged. It does not measure other improvements in quality of life.

inventions of the special century did.

The development of desktop computers, the Internet, search engines, and cell phones contributed to a modest upswing in growth in 1994-2004. However, advances in communications cannot transform society in the way that the inventio