In February of this year, Professor John Van Reenen , a leading British economist, addressed an audience in Hong Kong on the future of economic growth . In that lecture he highlighted areas from which growth was most likely to emerge. Among other things Professor Van Reenen stated growth would best manifest itself via: "...trade policies, relaxed planning, less distortionary taxation, proper subsidization of research and development, and improved management...”
The point that struck me as I pondered this lecture and other readings online about growth from a macroeconomic perspective was that there was no mention of emerging opportunities or a novel transition from service-based economies to whatever might come next, if anything. If the service-economy is the summit of economic evolution then we are in big trouble, no matter how optimistic many trendy economists might wish to frame things . Professor Van Reener was using the old accounting trick of simply moving numbers and agr