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I very much agree with Martin Wolf in his first-class article (“How to Think About Policy in a Polycrisis”, Opinion, November 30) that “economists have to recognize how the economy is connected to other forces” such as politics, finance and social Change, considered as separate “intellectual silos”. However, there is an important force that also needs to be considered: technology.
Business school students are taught about germs—political, economic, social, and technological forces. In his authoritative book Macroeconomics: Understanding the Wealth of Nations David Miles and Andrew Scott suggest that “technological progress has for some time been the main force behind economic growth” because “it increases all (economic) output even if it does not increase the capital stock or (labor) hours”.
Wolff also says that geographically “the overwhelming bulk (of global economic growth) will be generated by Asian economies”. An example of one such development is Taiwan, which now accounts for 20 percent of global (semiconductor) wafer fabrication. . . and 92 percent of the most advanced chips (Big Read, October 25). In South Korea, another economy where technology is taken seriously, it is no surprise that the cabinet post of science minister is held by Professor Lee Jong-ho, a highly regarded semiconductor expert who also holds a university chair in electrical and computer science. .
In Britain, there is much talk today about “economic growth” and government policy to achieve it.
However, I see very little discussion about technology in general, especially computer science, and how it can improve growth and productivity. Perhaps technology is the elephant in the road for British economic growth.
Neil McPhatter
Longstanton, Cambridgeshire, UK
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