Thursday
Mostly summarized from Gregory Mankiw’s Principles of Economics, 5th Ed. PART 9 The Real Economy in the Long Run Chapter 25 of 36 Production and Growth Section 17 of 22 … Things government can promote and strengthen to increase productivity and living standards include: 1· saving and investment 2· investment from abroad 3· education 4· health and nutrition 5· property rights and political stability 6· free trade 7· research and development 8· population growth … 7· Research and development Advancement of technological knowledge is the main reason living standards are higher today than a century ago. Most technological advances come from firms and individual inventors private efforts and research. There is a public interest in promoting these efforts. To a large extent knowledge is a public good. Once one person makes a discovery it enters society's pool of knowledge and others can use it. Just as government has a role in providing public goods such as national defense, it also ...