EconAir

  INTRODUCTION The main topic of economics should be economic growth and development, “the nature and causes of the wealth of nations.” (Adam Smith) The main questions are: How do capitalist economies grow? What is the relationship between economic growth and economic development? What is innovation and its relationship to economic development? ECONOMIC GROWTH Economic growth is the growth rate of total output, usually measured by real Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Total output is not measured directly. Sales (nominal GDP) are added up and the growth rate calculated. The inflation rate is calculated separately and subtracted from the growth rate of nominal GDP. What remains is the growth rate of real GDP. Between 1950 and 2000, the U.S. economy (real GDP) grew at about 3.5% per year. Since 2000, with two recessions, the growth rate has been around 2.0% per year. Even the recovery from the 2008-2009 recession has been only somewhat above 2.0%.  Small changes in compound growth ...

The Rocket - Famous Steam Locomotive England , more than any country, started the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s.   And for over 150 years, England continued to discover new products and technologies.   Yet England eventually fell behind the United States and Germany in industrial technology, commercial innovation, production efficiency, and economic growth.   What happened? The seeds of England ’s relative economic decline were there right at the beginning. Producing cotton cloth was England's first big industry.  But m illwrights, mechanics with specialized knowledge of how to build wool and cotton mills and their machinery, felt frustrated because they seldom became part owners and couldn’t find financing to start their own mills.   Some illegally emigrated to the United States and France .   Much of the early American textile mill technology was due to English immigrants and English technology.   The first cotton spin...