So this actually points to a big problem with how we measure growth.
If you start from the assumption that well-being or some other desirable policy goal can be measured by income (profits, wages, etc), I'd argue most of the things in this list aren't likely to increase either wages or profits of companies.
But they are likely to create economic surplus - that thing that makes us want to trade/transact in the first place. Economic surplus is why you'd rather buy a Netflix package for $10 than rent a $3 video from the video store. You're massively better off with Netflix even though Netflix's profits and your wages haven't moved.
The problem is, we don't have a good way to measure this. Economists are aware of the problem, and it's something that makes comparison of GDP across decades difficult. There are many things that are better or flat-out new compared to what existed 50 years ago. How do you compare the experience of driving a modern, safe, smooth-driving car to an older one? Or the experience of talking cross-continent for practically nothing on Skype?
I agree that these technologies are going to reshape our world, I just don't think those gains are necessarily going to show up in GDP, at least not how we measure it today. And I also think this whole "real wages have stagnated" argument is a bit of a red herring. Maybe they have...so what. People are much, much better off today than they were even 20 years ago. We have more things, they're better in almost every way, less disease, the world is just 100% a better place, and anyone who says otherwise is just trying to push some redistributionist political agenda. I'm not saying inequality isn't a problem, but it's borderline lying to suggest our lives haven't gotten any better over the last 30 years because "real wages have stagnated".
If you start from the assumption that well-being or some other desirable policy goal can be measured by income (profits, wages, etc), I'd argue most of the things in this list aren't likely to increase either wages or profits of companies.
But they are likely to create economic surplus - that thing that makes us want to trade/transact in the first place. Economic surplus is why you'd rather buy a Netflix package for $10 than rent a $3 video from the video store. You're massively better off with Netflix even though Netflix's profits and your wages haven't moved.
The problem is, we don't have a good way to measure this. Economists are aware of the problem, and it's something that makes comparison of GDP across decades difficult. There are many things that are better or flat-out new compared to what existed 50 years ago. How do you compare the experience of driving a modern, safe, smooth-driving car to an older one? Or the experience of talking cross-continent for practically nothing on Skype?
I agree that these technologies are going to reshape our world, I just don't think those gains are necessarily going to show up in GDP, at least not how we measure it today. And I also think this whole "real wages have stagnated" argument is a bit of a red herring. Maybe they have...so what. People are much, much better off today than they were even 20 years ago. We have more things, they're better in almost every way, less disease, the world is just 100% a better place, and anyone who says otherwise is just trying to push some redistributionist political agenda. I'm not saying inequality isn't a problem, but it's borderline lying to suggest our lives haven't gotten any better over the last 30 years because "real wages have stagnated".