US economic growth may be far from over

In a new academic paper, Robert Gordon speculates that per capita economic growth in the US could permanently stagnate, as fading innovation is compounded by headwinds from demography, education, inequality, environmental concerns, globalisation and the debt overhang. Rather like the famous scene in Monty Python's Life of Brian, Gordon's argument boils down to asking "what has technology ever done for us?" As the People's Front of Judea realised about the Romans, however, we think the answer is that technology has done a lot more than Gordon is willing to admit and will continue to do so in the future.