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American Economic Review Vol. 106 No. 5 2016

Winter Is Coming: Robert Gordon and the Future of Economic Growth

Gregory Clark

Department of Economics, University of California, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616 (e-mail: )

Abstract

This comment assesses the claim of The Rise and Fall of American Growth that for coming decades, growth in US TFP will continue the disappointing pace of the last decade. While predicting future technological advance is difficult, there are indications that Gordon may actually be too optimistic on future TFP growth. The share of output from manufacturing, which still generates the majority of R&D expenditures, and has historically more rapid TFP growth, will continue to fall. There are substantial obstacles to rapid TFP advance in much of the rest of the economy: construction, transport, health care and other services.

DOI
10.1257/aer.p20161072
Volume
106
Issue
5
Pages
68-71
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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