information technology and the networked economy

... Europe and the former Soviet Union, North Africa and the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa. The fourteen major economies include the G7 economies listed above and the developing and transition ... Timmer, and Ypma (2003, updated 2005). 15 See Jorgenson and Motohashi (2005). 16 WITSA stands for the World Information Technology and Services Alliance. Other important sources of data include the ... Input, and Productivity. The final step in our analysis of the world growth resurgence is to describe and characterize the levels of output, input, and productivity for the world economy, the...

... than a thousand companies and reveals some interesting results. The third essay applies the model developed in the second essay to study the difference in the adoption and pay-off of the Internet ... it actually handled inventory and the delivery of the products during the 1998-1999 time period. The correlation between the two labor measures is calculated. The log values of these two measures ... and processes. They categorized firms based on whether they are purely Internet based, the type of goods sold (digital or tangible), and the type of electronic 16 labor, and where t is the...

... Recommended catalogue entry: Information Technology and the Forest Sector. Report by the IUFRO Task Force on Information Technology and the Forest Sector,” jointly organized by the International Union ... provider and 34 by the owner or manager, the availability of resources, and the attitude to and knowledge and acceptance of technology by employees. Externally, the decision to adopt the Internet ... compasses, and clinometers to gather information about the forest and shared results through paper reports. ICT is now required to efficiently manage the ecology and economy of the forest (Hansen,...

... passenger trips between the offshore islands and Fujian Province, including 144,234 from the offshore islands to the mainland, and 8,200 from the mainland to the offshore islands as of February 29, 2004 ... between the two offshore islands and the mainland. As part of that expansion of the mini-three links, the Taiwanese government also expanded the list of products that the offshore islands can ... because of the fundamental role they play in information technology and high -technology weaponry. They view the development of the semiconductor industry as being vital to economic development and national...

... way “takingover.”There is little attention given to the more mundane and immediatethreatsto the jobmarket and the overall economy.  Perhaps the technologists just assume that once the technology ... little morebrightly.Theseare the employeesof the automaker beingrefreshedwithnewlight.Anothertransferofwealth hastakenplace. The autoworkersinturnmakepurchases fromotherbusiness,small and large, and the lightcontin- uestoparadethrough the tunnel. We also know that behind the walls of the tunnel there are more businesses and interconnections ... haveasweanticipaterecovery from the current cri- sis and in the years and decades ahead? What will the economy of the futurelooklike? Among people who work in the field of computer technology, itisfairlyroutinetospeculateabout the like- lihoodthatcomputerswillsomedayapproach,orpossibly evenexceed,humanbeingsingeneralcapability and intel- ligence....

... mayhaveactuallyin- creasedforatime,astheywereabletolowertheirprices. Asaresult,theirprofits, and therefore the wealthoftheir topemployees and shareholdersincreased.Thesewere the brighterlightsin the tunnelthatinitiallybecamestronger. However,asnearlyallbusinessesin the tunnelcontinued toautomatejobs,atsomepoint the decreasein the num- berofpotentialcustomersbeganto ... biotechnology and genetics could be considered a type of information science because it is focused on cataloging and understanding the information inourDNA. THE LIGHTS IN THE ... on the seconddayyouhavetwocents and thenfourcentson the thirdday, and soon. The firstcharton the nextpageshows the firstfifteen daysasourpennydoubles.Youcanseethatwestartout very slowly and then...

... madeeven morechallengingby the factthat the objectscouldbein manypossibleorientationsorconfigurations.Consider the simplecaseofapairofsunglassessittingonatable. The sunglassesmightbeclosedwith the lensesfacingdown,or with the lensesup.Orperhaps the glassesareopen with the lenses oriented vertically. Or maybe one side of the glassesisopen and the other closed. And, ofcourse, the glassescouldberotatedinanydirection. And perhapsthey are ... securities werethensoldtobanks and financialinstitutionsallover the world,with the understandingthattheywereverylow riskinvestments. When the subprimeborrowersstarteddefaulting, the valueof the mortgage-backed securitiesplunged, and the derivativesdidnotworkasexpected.Inmanycasesitwas difficultorimpossibletocalculatetheirvalue.Inaddition, financialinstitutionshadengagedinmanyothercomplex interrelationships ... has quicklyattracted the noticeof the Securities and Exchange Commission and mayresultinnewregulation. Astheseexamplesshow,wecanexpectthat the rate ofchange and the volatilityofnearlyeverythingaroundus will...

... demand will in- crease, and the economy will therefore produce more goods and services.Inotherwords, the samenumberof workerswillbeemployedbuttheywillproducemore. 32  The ... collating and faxing in- formation. The intellectualportionof the job—eitherap- provingordenying the loan—isprobablyalreadyessential- lyhandledbyacomputer.Throughout the economy, there   * Formoreonrobotics and itspotentialimpactonemployment and on ... food—all of these and countless thousandsofotherstructures and chemicalsthatcomprise ourbodies and make usfunctionareproteins. And they areallconstructedthroughnanotechnology. Itislikelythat the coming“nanotech”revolutionwill begin...

... within their capabilities, then how will they acquire the income necessary to create the demand thatinturndrivesproduction?Ifweconsider the singular- ityinthiscontext,thenisitreallysomethingthatwillnec- essarilypushusforwardexponentially?Orcoulditinac- tualityleadtorapideconomicdecline? *    * The technologistswhospeculateabout the singularitydon’tseemtoo concerned ... shouldersofAmerican and Europeanconsumers. And aswehavenotedagain and againinthisbook,those Westernconsumersalldependonjobs.Ifautomationbe- ginstodramaticallyimpactemploymentinChina,whileat the sametimedemanddwindlesin the West and certain- lyif the catastrophiceventdescribed at the beginning of thischapteroccurs—thenthiseconomicperpetualmotion machineisgoingtocollapse. Givenallthis,whatcanwereallysayabout the future ofChina?Nearlyafourthof the world’spopulationlives inChina;therefore,thereisnodoubtthatthiscountrywill continuetohavesignificant, and perhapsincreasing,influ- encein the decadestocome.However,simplyextrapolat- ingcurrenttrendsisveryunlikelytogiveanaccuratepro- jection.Chinaisgoingtobeheavilyimpactedbyaccelerat- ing ... purchasing the goods they are producing. Or eveniftheycanaffordtobuythoseproducts,theyareun- likelytodo sobecausetheyaremuchmoreinterestedin THE LIGHTS IN THE TUNNEL...

... to decline.Rememberthatwearetalkinghereaboutaverage workers.Toget the graphabove,youmighttake the dis- tributionofincomesin the UnitedStates and thenelimi- nateboth the richest and the poorestpeople.Thengraph the averageincomeof the remaining“typical”people (the bulk of consumers) ... by industries,productionbecomesmoreefficient.Thisresults insomelossofjobs,butitalsoresultsinlowerpricesfor goods and services.Inotherwords,itputsmoremoneyin consumers’ pockets. These consumers then go out and buyallkindsof things, and so the resultisincreasedde- mandfor the productsproducedbyalltypesofindustries. Some ... nation, youwillinvariablyfindthat the U.S. economy isfarmore capitalintensive.Ithasbeen the introductionofadvanced technology that has increased productivity and made the advancednationsof the worldrich. The reasonforthisgoesbackto the economists’ex- planationfor the “Ludditefallacy”whichwediscussedin the ...

... elimi- nates the jobsthatprovideincometoconsumers. The es- sentialideaisthatweshouldimposesomecombinationof aconsumptiontax and/ oraspecialdirecttaxonbusiness thatcaptures the incomewhich,inanon-automatedecon- omy,wouldbepaidoutinwages.Overtime,as the wages paidtoaverageworkersdecrease(asapercentageofreve- nue),thesetaxeswouldbegraduallyincreasedtorecapture atleastaportionofthisincome. The overallobjectiveisto recapturejust the optimalamountofincome and thenget itinto the handsofconsumerssothattherewillbesuffi- cientconsumerdemandtocontinuedriving the economy.  Once the income ... unless there is either existing market de- mandor the reasonableexpectationofsuchdemandin the foreseeablefuture. The idea that productionrespondsto demandisoneof the definingcharacteristicsofcapitalism. Removing ... corruption amongofficialsin the country.Thesepeopleveryoftenact primarilyfortheirownbenefit and, inparticular,inways that preserve theirpositions and power—rather thanfor the benefitoftheircountryasawhole.In the finalanaly- sis,...

... have strongeducations and training.Thesepeoplearebeneficia- riesof the information age.On the toxicwastelandsideof the fence, are relatively unskilled workers. These people THE LIGHTS IN THE ... dramatically negative.In the UnitedStates,twothirdsofworkers and thereforeconsumers—donothaveacollegedegree.While effortstoimproveeducation and trainingarelaudable, the realityisthatthisisnotlikelytooffset the impactofgeo- metricallyaccelerating technology. Infact,Ithinkthat the THE LIGHTS IN THE TUNNEL ... Amazon havebeenheavilyimpactedbyboth technology and globa- lization.Theyoftensurvivebystringingtwoorthreepart timejobstogetherorworkinlowwagejobswithfewben- efits. The obvioussolutionisforustofindawaytooffer thesepeopleadditionaltraining—sotheycanhopoverto the goodsideof the fence. Ithinkthat the problemwiththisscenarioisthat the fenceisgoingtomove, and itmaymoveveryrapidly. The good sideof the fenceisgoingtocontract, and increasingnum- bersofwell-educatedworkersaregoingtofindthemselves suddenlyon the toxicside.AsIpointedoutinChapter2, we...

... acentrallyplanned economy,  and perhaps most chillingly, the overthrow of govern- ments and a“dictatorshipof the proletariat.”In the wake of the collapse of communism, these ideas ... Marx The centralthesisofthisbookisthat,as technology acce- lerates, machine automationmay ultimately penetrate the economy to the extent thatwages no longer provide the bulkofconsumerswithadequatediscretionaryincome and confidencein the future.Ifthisissueisnotaddressed, the resultwillbeadownwardeconomicspiral. Itmustbeacknowledgedthatthisideaisquitesimilar to the predictionsthatweremadebyKarlMarxin the mid tolate1800s.Marxpredictedthatcapitalismwouldsuffer from ... Amazon manjudge. The otherparticipantsareanotherperson and amachine—bothofwhomattempttoconvince the judge thattheyarehumanbyconductinganormalconversation. If the judgecan’ttellwhichparticipantiswhich,then the machineissaidtohavepassed the TuringTest. The TuringTestisperhaps the mostwell-known and acceptedmethodformeasuringtruemachineintelligence. Inpractice, the ruleswouldneedtobefurtherrefined, and it...

... securities werethensoldtobanks and financialinstitutionsallover the world,with the understandingthattheywereverylow riskinvestments. When the subprimeborrowersstarteddefaulting, the valueof the mortgage-backed securitiesplunged, and the derivativesdidnotworkasexpected.Inmanycasesitwas difficultorimpossibletocalculatetheirvalue.Inaddition, financialinstitutionshadengagedinmanyothercomplex interrelationships ... madeeven morechallengingby the factthat the objectscouldbein manypossibleorientationsorconfigurations.Consider the simplecaseofapairofsunglassessittingonatable. The sunglassesmightbeclosedwith the lensesfacingdown,or with the lensesup.Orperhaps the glassesareopen with the lenses oriented vertically. Or maybe one side of the glassesisopen and the other closed. And, ofcourse, the glassescouldberotatedinanydirection. And perhapsthey are ... has quicklyattracted the noticeof the Securities and Exchange Commission and mayresultinnewregulation. Astheseexamplesshow,wecanexpectthat the rate ofchange and the volatilityofnearlyeverythingaroundus will...

... food—all of these and countless thousandsofotherstructures and chemicalsthatcomprise ourbodies and make usfunctionareproteins. And they areallconstructedthroughnanotechnology. Itislikelythat the coming“nanotech”revolutionwill begin ... in Chapter1.Hismainpointisthat,asadvancing technology increases productivity, prices will fall, demand will in- crease, and the economy will therefore produce more goods and services.Inotherwords, the samenumberof workerswillbeemployedbuttheywillproducemore. 32  The ... collating and faxing in- formation. The intellectualportionof the job—eitherap- provingordenying the loan—isprobablyalreadyessential- lyhandledbyacomputer.Throughout the economy, there   * Formoreonrobotics and itspotentialimpactonemployment and on...