Thursday 15 September 2005

Life gets better

Life, wages and working conditions for US workers have got dramatically better across the last century, according to a survey performed by Stanley Lebergott.
The fundamental cause of this increase in the standard of living was the increase in productivity. What caused that increase? The tremendous changes in Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore since World War II demonstrate how tenuous is the connection between productivity and such factors as sitting in classrooms, natural resources, previous history, or racial origins. Increased productivity depends more on national attitudes and on free markets, in the United States as in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Read Professor Lebergott's survey here. Does anyone know of a similar study for New Zealand? I have no doubt at all it would show a similar trend. [Hat tip Stephen Hicks.]

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