Not too long ago, the US employed more than 300 thousand workers in car manufacturing plants across the country. Over a million more were employed in auto parts manufacturing. Since the turn of the Century, US auto’s narrative has been one of gradual decline. Automation, globalisation and changing consumer preferences drained jobs out of the... Continue Reading →
Here’s an ambitious question: what impact will AI have on the future of jobs? Since the invention of inventions, workers have always been concerned with potential impact of technology on their jobs. The potential for machines to replace workers has been accompanied by fear and trepidation. Gasoline was poured onto those concerns earlier this decade... Continue Reading →
The OECD’s Global Productivity Forum is like Coachella for economists (if all the acts at Coachella lacked diversity and all the concerts were played in the dated function room of a downtown Marriott). This year, the Forum took place in Ottawa, co-hosted by the Bank of Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Canada. The... Continue Reading →
Is there anything more frivolous than owning a high end bicycle? A watered down version of Chris Froome’s Tour De France winning Pinarello Dogma F10 will set you back about $15,000. You can buy a used bike from ebay that will essentially do the same job at a hundredth of the cost. Owning a performance... Continue Reading →
Labour productivity grew rapidly in many OECD economies during the second half of the 20th Century. This was mostly the result of catching-up as nations adopted existing, but as-yet unexploited technologies. Once these catch-up wins were realised, productivity growth would revert. The rapid dispersion of information and communication technologies in the mid-1990s spawned a new... Continue Reading →
We lack, above all, the entrepreneurial initiative achieved by others, not because their people have greater potential than Canadian’s, but because their corporations and their countries have been forced to develop more vigorous responses by exposure to severe conditions from which we have been insulated… The generation of indigenous technology, and the relentless search for... Continue Reading →
TALES FROM THE LONG TAIL 