Robert J. Gordon is one of the world’s most influential economists. He has attracted worldwide attention from academics, print media, and the blogosphere by his controversial analysis predicting that future economic growth in the U. S. will be a mere fraction of its historic rate. In his acclaimed and best-selling 2016 book, The Rise and fall of American Growth, Bob argues that the true driver of economic growth over the last century was a series of one-time inventions whose impact has come and passed. Electricity, internal combustion engine, running water, indoor toilets, communications, entertainment, chemicals, petroleum — these created a wave of growth unmatched in human history. The U.S. is facing six devastating factors that will slow any growth that could come from new innovations: demography, education, inequality, globalization, energy/environment, and debt. Between the loss of life-changing innovation and the drag of these six “headwinds”, U.S. growth could fall below 0.5 percent per year for decades.
