I'm Pete du Pont with the National Center for Policy Analysis. Are the dot-coms gone for good? Is the "new" economy suddenly dated, despite the surging popularity of the Internet?
Although technology continues to play a major role in our lives…it wasn't the only factor and may not have been the crucial factor that contributed to the rise in worker productivity in the past two or three decades.
The NCPA's Bruce Bartlett recently cited a study by the McKinsey Global Institute that shows almost all of the aggregate increase in productivity in the U.S. took place in just 6 industries-retail trade, wholesale trade, securities, telecommunications, semiconductors and computer manufacturing…but that comes to just 30 percent of the economy. What's really new is that although technology spurred some of the increase in productivity, other low-tech forces played a larger and more critical role…like basic market forces, economies of scale, and competition.
So the bad news is…it may take a while for the dot-coms to come back. The good news is that there may be a broader base for generating and sustaining future economic growth than we thought.
Those are my ideas, and at the NCPA we know ideas can change the world. I'm Pete du Pont. Next time, Arab-Americans and racial profiling.