Economic Geography - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The recent innovations would not change the world of work substantially. Higher literacy rate and increased research intensity majorly caused the growth of income in the later half of the 20th century. Finiteness of growth of these elements is a cause of halt in income growth. The rate of progress today is very slow compared to what it was from the start to the mid 20th century. Computer age is omnipresent but has failed to increase productivity like the innovations of the late 19th century did until the quarter of the 20th century. Innovation and technology are used interchangeably but the two terms are different. A hindrance in future innovation is poorly crafted regulations. The role of government as well as energy has changed in the transition from the late 20th to the 21st century. Globalization is one of the factors that caused the productivity slowdown since 1970s, though it also serves as an opportunity since any idea generated spreads world over. The real risk for advanced economies is the rigidity of institutions toward accommodation of changes that are truly revolutionary rather than the slow pace of innovation. Reflection I think that the pace of innovation has not slowed down. In fact, the speed with which the research and development is taking place today far exceeds any achieved in the past centuries. This article has more discussed the effect of innovation and new technologies on business, commerce, and everyday life rather than innovation itself. Considering the innovation aspect, the fact that every year brings along with it new models and upgraded specifications of almost every gadget that we have ranging from the cars to mobile phones provides evidence of the speed of innovation. So saying that innovation is not happening any more would be far from reality. Nevertheless, it is undoubtedly true that human life has never been impacted as much by innovation and new technology as it has been impacted from the start till the first quarter of the 20th century. The reason behind the decline in the impact of innovation on human life in the present age compared to the past is not just limited to the rigid attitude of the organizations and institutions toward sustaining the traditional ways of working. While it is an important factor, the reasons for the decline in innovation’s impact on human life extend beyond it to include the fact that the merits of adjusting the systems according to new technologies today are not as enormous as they were in the past. This is because of the fact that the general lifestyle of people a century ago or before that and the systems of trade and commerce were far less advanced than what they are today and had a lot of room for adjustment and improvement. Therefore, the decline has basically not happened in the speed of innovation. Instead, the decline has happened in the tendency of the systems to be improved probably because the existing systems address the fundamental needs of the society in many ways. Although there is growing concern about the safety of environment, yet this fact cannot be denied that the practices that have led to deterioration of the environmental health and safety are addressing the economic and various other needs of the society. One point that has been made in the article and which I disagree with is that the omnipresence of computer age has not increased the productivity the way the 19th century’s innovations did. Saying this is unfair because it undermines all the improvement in ...Download file to see next pagesRead More