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Introduction
The cause of economic growth is a hotly debated issue that has culminated in
recent years into a debate about what has been called "The New Economy."
The debate can be divided into two schools of thought; the
Keynesian/Institutionalist School and the Orthodox (or Neoclassical) School.
In Jeffery Madrick's book, The End of Affluence, he points out that U.S.
growth has had phenomenal growth rates (GDP) averaging over 3.4 percent
from 1870 to 1973. However, since 1973 to when the book was written in
1995, the U.S. GDP growth rate has slowed to an average of 2.3 percent. This
is a drastic change when one considers the amount of change in rate of
growth from "3.4% to 2.3%." 3 In Walt Rostow's book, Stages of Economic
Growth, he explains the situation with his theory that we have finally
matured into the final stages of slow growth and high mass-consumption. But
first, Madrick explains his view of what caused our initial and sustained
increase in GDP growth.
The United States focused early on infrastructure and industries that created
forward and backward linkages for growth. In the early 1800's, we became
obsessed with building roads, canals, and railroads. Madrick states, "Trade
had risen by thirteen times on the Erie Canal between 1824 and the 1850's,
and by twelve times on the Mississippi over the same period. Absent from
Madrick's book is proper tribute to James Watt's steam engine, he does
mention it in a sentence or two, but no more than that. The first short
railroad lines were put in during the 1830's and 1840's." 4 The steel industry
as well as others grew from their linkage to the railroad industry. He states
further that, "Domestic trade became a key to growth. The huge American
market was an unparalleled free-trade zone, so to speak, where farmers and
businesses could specialize in the production of what they did best." 5
The Great Depression came to the U.S. in the 1930's and had started in
various other parts the world following World War I. It has been thought that
the Hawley-Smoot Act (1930) which imposed tariffs on foreign trade was
important toward bringing the depression to the U.S. There's no doubt in my
mind that it reduced demand for U.S. products abroad. Keynes completed
writing The General Theory in 1933. Most of Keynes' theories were never
utilized until after World War II, but some of the socio-economic programs in
the U.S. during the depression had the Keynesian flavor of his theories. But
it wasn't until an increase in aggregate demand, caused by World War II,
actually helped push the U.S. to full capacity of production and full
employment. After World War II, the Marshall Plan rebuilt war-torn
countries and this investment aided their economies.
Since 1970, Madrick states the U.S. has been losing manufacturing jobs and
it is primarily due to new technologies replacing workers. When
manufacturing workers do find work, it is usually at less pay than previously
enjoyed as well. Jobs have been increasing in the service sector, which tend to
pay less than manufacturing jobs. He cites several possible remedies for the
slowdown in growth by "increasing the flexibility and competitiveness of our
businesses, raising our savings rate, balancing the budget, improving our
education, and developing new markets for our goods overseas." 8 Actually,
higher savings rates and balanced Federal budgets would have the opposite
effect of slowing the economy. But Madrick does admit these are not going to
address the core of the problems. To Madrick, the primary problem is slow
productivity growth. He states that without the productivity growth we've
enjoyed in the past, other problems will continue such as a social security
shortfall and the Medicare crisis. The slow productivity growth will lead to
slow wage growth, which will lead to the future problems he mentions above.
He states its "easier to blame big government, big business, foreign
competitors, minorities, immigrants, welfare recipients, criminals, labor
unions, a liberal conspiracy, or extramarital sex on the part of our politicians
than to confront the reality of declining growth and the hard choices that it
implies." 9
And their explanation of the formula, "Which of course says merely that the
growth of output per person (per capita income) is equal to the growth of the
employment rate plus the growth of productivity." 10 Increased employment
levels would explain the reason for the outstanding U.S. growth rate for the
last 200 years. Increased employment helps generate an increasing aggregate
demand. They also cite that, "By the mid 1990's, the U.S. employment rate
had risen by nearly 25% over its 1970 level." 11 While employment has
increased at these rates, they cite that slow growth of income per capita is
the reason for slow growth in productivity.
There is a growing number of people that feel the United States has entered
a "New Era" or "The New Economy" sparked by high-technology, computers,
and the Internet. There's no doubt that the U.S. is enjoying some new
alternatives of doing business and to ignore these opportunities could be
potentially harmful for both domestic and global businesses. Unfortunately,
much of the current writings about The New Economy are like reading the
self-help books of the 1970's and seem to be only geared to cash in on this
phenomenon with new rules to follow, buzz-words, and catch-phrases.
However, there is a question of how this growth has come about, will this
growth continue indefinitely, or what will sustain it in the future?
The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), "believes that three main foundations
will underpin strong and widely-shared economic growth in the New
Economy: development of a ubiquitous digital economy; increased research
and innovation, and improved skills and knowledge of the workforce." 12
They state further on another page of their web-site, "While the old economy
was fundamentally organized around standardized mass production, the New
Economy is organized around flexible production of goods and services." 13
Madrick also cites this in his book, The End of Affluence. In other words, the
goals haven't changed, the means to the same goals of the past have changed.
The PPI also state that lagging productivity growth explains the slow wage
growth in recent years.
"Market forces" is a term that originated with Adam Smith and "The
Invisible Hand." It primarily proclaims that markets are opened and cleared
at the equilibrium, which was expanded by Marshall and Walras. Supply and
demand schedules intersect to form the market price. This is the basis of
Orthodox and Neoclassical theory. Keynes believed that markets rarely clear.
The discussions of The New Economy have primarily focused their
explanations based on Orthodox theory and this is a supply-oriented
philosophy.
Frank Veneroso points out in his manuscript, There are no Ricardian Rents
in Cyberspace (Chapter 7), the fallacy in Arthur's "increasing returns" theory
is that it assumes the growth of the Internet and high technology is endless.
The crux of the problem with Microsoft is the market failure of monopoly. If
Microsoft had even two viable competitors for their operating system, then
consumers might be enjoying the use of a higher quality product today.
Monopolies not only tend to stifle innovation, but they also supply lower
numbers of their products thereby increasing the average cost and price. You
may recall the day Windows '95 hit the stores. People lined up outside
computer retail outlets waiting for the doors to open so they could actually
get a copy before they ran out. Orthodox proponents can't account for this
market failure because it occurred when the 'market was left to its own
devices.'
However, I differ with him somewhat on this point. I know that Amazon.com
would never pack up and move their site to, for example Abracadabra.com.
Amazon has created a 'uniquely productive site' by virtue of its recognizable
and easy-to-remember Uniform Resource Locator (URL). It is as valuable, if
not more so, as a shopping mall at the intersection of two major interstate
highways. There are even some people that have purchased unique URLs in
hope that someday they can sell them at a profit. An example of this might be
if I was to purchase the URL, BillGates.com for the initial required fee of $70.
Billy might want to buy that URL from me, but since I picked it up first, I'll
want some compensation in addition to my original investment. The
difference though is Amazon has a recognizable location for active productive
purposes. The 'store's doors are swinging.' The viability of any retail store
depends more on its customer base and revenue than on its location, although
its physical location in high traffic areas can be the sole attraction of
customers. Veneroso is saying that Ricardian rent comes from a physical
presence, not a virtual presence, and location of the physical presence is what
makes a difference in economic rents. You can't physically have an infinite
number of shopping malls at the intersection of two major highways. He says
that entrants to the Internet who have an online presence as well as a
physical retail store will be more successful than the strictly 'virtual' outlets.
Veneroso also looks at the number of computers sold as a way of gauging the
amount of future Internet growth. The change in rate of the number of
computers sold is a leading indicator of the future of Internet business. This
rate according to Veneroso's data is declining, "With PC penetration at more
than 55% of all households and at much higher levels for businesses, the
growth in new Net users must surely be slowing drastically." 25 However, I
don't think his data includes the global picture which is where the future of
Internet growth is greatest.
Detractors of continued Internet growth cite that computer technology has its
limits based on the numbers of people willing to learn this new technology.
Not everyone is willing to go buy a computer and surf the 'Net. But that
technological problem can easily be solved in the near future when the
Internet and television merge. At that point, it is predicted that anyone can
sit comfortably in a favorite chair and select a web-site as if they were
choosing their favorite TV channel, and without any knowledge of computer
technology. WebTv is a pioneer in this area, but it still has a lot of limitations
compared to the computer for Internet surfing and capabilities. Institutional
economists would state that future changes in consumer behavior could
possibly change the future of retail business even if these changes haven't
occurred yet. Maybe today's generation still likes to feel or touch the product
before it's purchased. Maybe tomorrow's generation won't feel the same after
they've grown up with the Internet having existed throughout their entire
life.
Concluding Remarks
For the most part, when journalists and businesspersons attempt to explain
economic theory and philosophy, I think there tends to be something lost in
their interpretations. Sometimes their terminology may get mixed-up thereby
causing their ideas to be misunderstood. Also their training may come only
from the Orthodox theories taught in the fundamental economics courses. As
for the economists, I think the Orthodox theorists have published much more
on this subject than the Keynesians or Institutionalists. Four reasons for this
is, first, Keynes didn't write specifically about growth in full-employment or
near full-employment economic conditions. He did however, make
recommendations for long-term economic sustainability and contemporary
economists must extrapolate his view from his past writings during the
1930's. The second reason is that The New Economy has been viewed by most
as a supply phenomenon rather than a demand phenomenon. Third, any
theory based on a single individual's philosophy has a limited life cycle.
Eventually, the theory mutates into what others think would be stated in
new situations. Forth, Institutional economics hasn't had the notoriety it
once had and in general has been largely ignored, but it seems to me that it
explains The New Economy better than any other theory offered.
Institutional theory mutates by definition. Orthodox theory is quite the
opposite, it never changes and is based on limited supply and equilibrium of
supply and demand.
Unfortunately, it's much easier to criticize and point out errors in theory than
it is to present a new theory. However, in order to create new economic
theories of explanation for The New Economy, we must start from a solid
foundation of thought. In conclusion, I think John Maynard Keynes has an
excellent closing remark from the last paragraph in his book, The General
Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money.
"But apart from this contemporary mood, the ideas of economists and
political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong,
are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by
little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any
intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.
Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy
from some academic scribbler of a few years back. I am sure that the power of
vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual
encroachment of ideas. Not, indeed, immediately, but after a certain interval;
for in the field of economic and political philosophy there are not many who
are influenced by new theories after they are twenty-five or thirty years of
age, so that the ideas which civil servants and politicians and even agitators
apply to current events are not likely to be the newest. But, soon or late, it is
ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil."
Citations
16. Paul Kedrosky, "The More You Sell, the More You Sell," Wired Digital,
Inc., http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.10/arthur_pr.html
17. Kevin Kelly, New Rules for the New Economy, Penguin Putnam, Inc.,
1998, pages 23 to 38.
18. Marc R. Tool, ed., "Resources Are Not; They Become: An Institutional
Theory," article by Thomas R. De Gregori, Evolutionary Economics, volume 1,
M. E. Sharpe, Inc., pages 291-313.
19. Paul Kedrosky, "The More You Sell, the More You Sell," Wired Digital,
Inc., http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.10/arthur_pr.html
20. Paul Kedrosky, "The More You Sell, the More You Sell," Wired Digital,
Inc., http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.10/arthur_pr.html
22. Veneroso, page 5. Fred Hickey is editor of "The High Tech Strategist."