For all the hype about us entering a “second machine age” it’s not clear that technological change and productivity is likely to speed up. But for the sake of boosting incomes around the world, one hopes it does, writes Rob Atkinson in Pacific Standard. Humankind would be vastly better off if worldwide median income were an order of magnitude higher, but the only way that can happen is if productivity rises. The major way that will happen is if better technology replaces more labor, and the increased savings from this productivity flows back into the economy through higher profits, higher wages, or lower prices.
