Thread
Some charts from a recent talk I gave, enjoy!
Here is TFP growth since 1947. Your income would be ~2x as high today if this hadn’t stagnated.
Here is TFP growth since 1947. Your income would be ~2x as high today if this hadn’t stagnated.
Some people don’t believe in economic statistics, so let’s use physical statistics.
This is the Henry Adams curve popularized by J. Storrs Hall.
This is the Henry Adams curve popularized by J. Storrs Hall.
We’d be cruising across the Atlantic at Mach 4 today if we had simply kept up with earlier trends. 
This one is nuanced, not claiming it’s monocausal.
But if we kept up drug R&D effectiveness at 1961 levels (the year before Congress changed drug approval requirements) we’d have 20k additional new drugs based on how much R&D spending PhRMA companies did.
But if we kept up drug R&D effectiveness at 1961 levels (the year before Congress changed drug approval requirements) we’d have 20k additional new drugs based on how much R&D spending PhRMA companies did.
Oh, and we suck at high-speed rail.
Even if you think we shouldn’t build HSR, the fact is that in 2009 Congress appropriated $8 billion for HSR and we still got no new HSR service.
Even if you think we shouldn’t build HSR, the fact is that in 2009 Congress appropriated $8 billion for HSR and we still got no new HSR service.
And if you think geothermal energy is a tremendous opportunity, you’re right.
But we can still screw it up.
But we can still screw it up.
We can end stagnation, but it won’t happen on its own.
We have to want it.
We have to want it.
