Word: growths
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...called the Internet economy last year surpassed $300 billion, according to a University of Texas study, and experts say that number could double in 1999. The U.S. economy is so enormous that we are just beginning to see the effects of the Internet--lower inflation, more productivity, faster growth and a boom longer than anyone had expected, just a few months shy of being the longest in U.S. history. Profound as these effects are, they are only a foretaste of what could change the economy, and the way business is conducted, almost beyond recognition...
That said, Paul Romer, professor of economics at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an expert in economic-growth theory, specifically warns against a "technological determinism"--a belief that technological progress will continue along a fixed trajectory regardless of the choices people make. He predicts that "the Internet will reshape society, but also that society will reshape the Internet through its decisions about taxation, antitrust policy, support for new types of standards organization, protection of privacy and intellectual property, and the regulation of bandwidth connections to the home...
...least some board members think the accelerated pace of business can lead to more leisure for workers--in about 15 years, says Varian. The reasoning: more work can be done in less time. Romer is unsure about leisure, but predicts another, generally beneficial aspect of the speedup. Faster economic growth will lead to higher wages, he says, and as a result, "the cost of people's time will be going up. That's a trend you can count on into the far future...
People will put a higher value on their time off as well as on the job, Romer continues, and this will promote and be aided by the accelerating growth of the Internet. Clearly, shopping online takes far less time than driving to five different stores...
...fall-off in foreign investment, Asia's economic decline, the unchecked corruption allowed by a mix of private and state ownership, and major weaknesses in the country's industrial, financial and legal infrastructure all threaten China's ability to maintain the breakneck pace of economic growth necessary to absorb its burgeoning unemployed population. And that makes fear of instability the dominant motif in the thinking of China's leaders...