Innovation: Engine of Economic Growth (and Employment)

Marco Magnani ()
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Marco Magnani: LUISS Guido Carli

Chapter Chapter 1 in Making the Global Economy Work for Everyone, 2022, pp 1-16 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Although often disrupting established balances, innovation has always been a formidable engine of economic growth throughout history. In the past, the virtuous link between innovation and growth has made it possible to overcome demographic constraints and the scarcity of food and energy resources, indeed allowing new growth opportunities with consequent increases in employment. Will it be the same in the future? The fear that economic growth may encounter severe constraints—such that even innovation is not able to overcome—is not something new. Those who believe in unlimited growth have always been opposed by those who believe growth has constraints: the cowboy's vision of the world has always been countered by that of the astronaut. The cowboy believes that there are no limits to the possibility of increasing one's own well-being, other than that of freedom and the individual ability to pursue one's own goals. On the contrary, the astronaut is very sensitive to the issues of scarcity and sustainability, which are considered serious constraints to economic growth. In the astronaut's metaphor, Earth is an enclosed space, vast but not infinite: just like a space station.

Keywords: Innovation; Sustainability; Economic growth; Productivity; Employment; Cowboy economy; Astronaut economy; Industrial revolution; Financial innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-92084-5_1

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