Last week, we remembered Barron’s columnist and editor, Alan Abelson (A Few Words About Alan Abelson). This week, Barron’s gathered various commentary from Colleagues, Wall Street Friends and Readers to remember Alan Abelson. It is a long piece filled with words from many readers. The shame of it is that Abelson himself never got to…Read More
Category: Markets
Good Sunday morning. Here are some reads that surfaced since the market closed Friday you may find worthwhile: • in which Downtown Josh Brown destroys the 1999 comparison (TRB) but see Felix Zulauf Developing Euphoria (Itau) • GE gets back to basics (Fortune) • Libor in a barrel: Oil markets fall under the suspicion of…Read More
Category: Financial Press
Economic Prospects for the Long Run
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke
At Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Great Barrington, Massachusetts
May 18, 2013
Let me start by congratulating the graduates and their parents. The word “graduate” comes from the Latin word for “step.” Graduation from college is only one step on a journey, but it is an important one and well worth celebrating.I think everyone here appreciates what a special privilege each of you has enjoyed in attending a unique institution like Simon’s Rock. It is, to my knowledge, the only “early college” in the United States; many of you came here after the 10th or 11th grade in search of a different educational experience. And with only about 400 students on campus, I am sure each of you has felt yourself to be part of a close-knit community. Most important, though, you have completed a curriculum that emphasizes creativity and independent critical thinking, habits of mind that I am sure will stay with you.
What’s so important about creativity and critical thinking? There are many answers. I am an economist, so I will answer by talking first about our economic future–or your economic future, I should say, because each of you will have many years, I hope, to contribute to and benefit from an increasingly sophisticated, complex, and globalized economy. My emphasis today will be on prospects for the long run. In particular, I will be looking beyond the very real challenges of economic recovery that we face today–challenges that I have every confidence we will overcome–to speak, for a change, about economic growth as measured in decades, not months or quarters.
Many factors affect the development of the economy, notably among them a nation’s economic and political institutions, but over long periods probably the most important factor is the pace of scientific and technological progress. Between the days of the Roman Empire and when the Industrial Revolution took hold in Europe, the standard of living of the average person throughout most of the world changed little from generation to generation. For centuries, many, if not most, people produced much of what they and their families consumed and never traveled far from where they were born. By the mid-1700s, however, growing scientific and technical knowledge was beginning to find commercial uses.
Since then, according to standard accounts, the world has experienced at least three major waves of technological innovation and its application. The first wave drove the growth of the early industrial era, which lasted from the mid-1700s to the mid-1800s. This period saw the invention of steam engines, cotton-spinning machines, and railroads. These innovations, by introducing mechanization, specialization, and mass production, fundamentally changed how and where goods were produced and, in the process, greatly increased the productivity of workers and reduced the cost of basic consumer goods.
The second extended wave of invention coincided with the modern industrial era, which lasted from the mid-1800s well into the years after World War II. This era featured multiple innovations that radically changed everyday life, such as indoor plumbing, the harnessing of electricity for use in homes and factories, the internal combustion engine, antibiotics, powered flight, telephones, radio, television, and many more. The third era, whose roots go back at least to the 1940s but which began to enter the popular consciousness in the 1970s and 1980s, is defined by the information technology (IT) revolution, as well as fields like biotechnology that improvements in computing helped make possible. Of course, the IT revolution is still going on and shaping our world today.
Category: Economy, Federal Reserve, Think Tank
In 2005, author David Foster Wallace was asked to give the commencement address to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College. However, the resulting speech didn’t become widely known until 3 years later, after his tragic death. It is, without a doubt, some of the best life advice we’ve ever come across, and perhaps the most simple and elegant explanation of the real value of education.
THIS IS WATER – By David Foster Wallace from The Glossary on Vimeo.
We made this video, built around an abridged version of the original audio recording, with the hopes that the core message of the speech could reach a wider audience who might not have otherwise been interested.
Category: Philosophy, Video
Click to enlarge ~~~ Source: Gallup Some key data points: • The average retirement age has crept up by four years over the past two decades, from 57 in 1991 to the current 61 • The average nonretired American currently expects to retire at age 66, up from 60 in 1995. • More than half of nonretirees…Read More
Category: Data Analysis, Wages & Income
Can two senators end ‘too big to fail’? Barry Ritholtz Washington Post, May 10 2013 Last month, an unlikely pair of senators — Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, and David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican — introduced a non-binding resolution calling for the end of the implicit subsidies that “too big to fail” (TBTF)…Read More
My longer form weekend reading material: • How the Case for Austerity Has Crumbled (NYRB) • The changing nature of work: Increasing automation is fundamentally shifting the nature of work away from ‘making stuff’ towards personal services. (piera) • That’s a ‘Depression’: Europe’s Double-Dip Is Officially Longer Than Its Great Recession (Atlantic) • This Is…Read More
Category: Financial Press
