Globalization and economic decline

After four decades of declining GDP growth, persistent trade deficits, stagnant incomes, and socially disruptive income inequality, the U.S. economy has only recently begun to make significant improvements. Specifically, a holistic and systematically constructed growth policy has finally begun to materialize. Now, a growth policy framework is evolving that emphasizes the critical role of productivity in raising incomes over time. Productivity is itself driven by investments in four major categories of economic assets: technology, fixed capital (hardware and software), skilled labor, and a variety of technical infrastructures that leverage the productivity of the first three categories. Growth policy must focus on all four asset categories. To be effective over time, growth policy must be based on a broad and deep investment strategy that is also flexible enough to reallocate resources across asset categories, as technologies are created, implemented, but eventually decline with respect to economic growth utility. This “life cycle” character of technology-based growth significantly increases both corporate and government strategy/policy management requirements.