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?

Answer 14

Yes we are getting better at exploiting them

Question 15

What is AGI?

Answer 15

• Artificial General Intelligence
  -Human level

Question 16

What is ASI?

Answer 16

-Artificial Super Intelligence

Question 17

What is different with AI as a GPT?

Answer 17

-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 18

What causes technological progress?

Answer 18

-endogenous to the economic system itself

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

Question 19

What is significant about the Industrial Revolution?

Answer 19

• a widespread change in behaviour

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

Question 20

What does Crafts say about steam?

Answer 20

-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 21

How did high pressure steam come about?

Answer 21

-required advancements in boiler design and manufacturing

Question 22

What does crafts say about how steam use was improved?

Answer 22

-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