The Secret to a Great Economy: Productivity

Almost nothing in economics is more important, or mysterious, than productivity. It means the amount of stuff -- goods, services, economic value -- produced for a given amount of input. It is productivity that separates today's rich, modern consumer societies from subsistence farmers living on the edge of starvation. The Industrial Revolution created technologies such as electricity, turbines and internal combustion engines that supercharged productivity, which is why we live incomparably better lives than those of our great-great-grandparents. If productivity slows, we can expect our living standards to stagnate, no matter what other steps we take.