Week 5: General Purpose Technologies: Steam and ICT

Question 1

Difference between invention and innovation?

Answer 1

Invention: a new discovery

Innovation: commercial application of an invention

Question 2

Diffusion?

Answer 2

widespread use of invention

Question 3

Imitation?

Answer 3

copying

Question 4

What did the printing press enable?

Answer 4

-as it diffused from Europe across Mainz
-made books more affordable, increased book production

-associated with faster city population growth where it was adopted (Dittmar)

-led to an ‘IT revolution’

Question 5

What was Hobsbawm’s perspective on why the I.R started?

Answer 5

-cotton industry

-Increase in cotton prod from Spinning jenny and Water power

-steam engines too late to effect industrial revolution (was initially used to pump ores out of mines)

Question 6

What are GPT’s?

Answer 6

-a technology that has:
scope for improvement
widely used
many uses
many complementarities

Question 7

Examples of GPTS?

Answer 7

• Electricity
  -Computing and communications (ICT)
• Factory System
  -interchangeable parts
  -modern management
  -Assembly line production

Question 8

What is Solow’s paradox

Answer 8

-slowdown in productivity growth in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s despite rapid development in I.T

Question 9

How does GPT effect productivity?

Answer 9

-initial impact is minimal
-the realisation of its eventual potential may take several
decades

Question 10

Why does steam contribute so little to growth?

Answer 10

-overall productivity growth was slow during IR (Craft)

-Steam power accounted for small % of capital stock

-not fundamental to growth, consequence of growth not cause

Question 11

How has computing improved growth?

Answer 11

-Computing power has improved in the last 15 years, as prices per unit computing power are going down

-Which has increased productivity and contribute more to GDP growth (Crafts)

Question 12

Why is growth from computing really grew in the late 20th century?

Answer 12

-greater % of capital stock

Question 13

Compared to computing how does Steam contribute to GDP growth and what conclusion do we get?

Answer 13

• much lower

-we are getting faster at exploiting GPT

Question 14

Can we use history of how we are getting better at exploiting GPT’s for A.I?

Question 16

What is AGI?

Answer 16

• Artificial General Intelligence
  -Human level

Question 17

What is ASI?

Answer 17

-Artificial Super Intelligence

Question 18

What is different with AI as a GPT?

Answer 18

-AI is presented as a modern GPT with transformative potential.

• It could lead to economic changes similar to those seen with past GPTs,

-AI reaching a point of “artificial superintelligence” (ASI), where its capabilities far exceed human intelligence

Question 19

What causes technological progress?

Answer 19

-endogenous to the economic system itself

-Inventions and innovations arise in response to economic needs and conditions, creating cycles of progress.

Question 20

What is significant about the Industrial Revolution?

Answer 20

• a widespread change in behaviour

-watch prices capture productivity increase (outside of cotton, steal and steam)

Question 21

What does Crafts say about steam?

Answer 21

-The relatively weak initial impact of steam as a GPT helps explain the modest rate of productivity growth during the British Industrial Revolution

-the shift to high pressure steam, significantly reducing coal consumption

Question 22

How did high pressure steam come about?

Answer 22

-required advancements in boiler design and manufacturing

Question 23

What does crafts say about how steam use was improved?

Answer 23

-resulted from a series of technological advancements

-shift to high-pressure steam, improvements in engine and boiler design

• integration of steam technology into various sectors like transportation and manufacturing