Paul Romer, a father of “endogenous” theories that emphasize barriers to technology adoption as the reason for slow growth, suggests that it is process technologies that are the key to the story. He argues that systems like Walmart’s management of inventory data have had a bigger impact on economic growth than inventions such as the transistor, for example. Or take the example of Toyota, until recently (when some drivers started to find its accelerator technology a little too sticky) the auto industry’s most profitable firm. Toyota does not produce the most innovative or exciting cars (compare
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