In the 1980s, when Robert Solow was writing, it was growing at the slowest rate for decades—slower even than during the Great Depression. Technology seemed to be booming, but productivity was almost stagnant. Economists called it the “productivity paradox.”2 What might explain it? For a hint, rewind a hundred years. Another remarkable new technology was proving disappointing: electricity. Some corporations were investing in electric dynamos and motors and installing them in workplaces. Yet the surge in productivity would not
