Tim Harford and Russ Roberts

An econtalk podcast, of course. At one point, Harford says,

one thing I learned is not to undervalue innovations that are important simply because they have become very, very cheap, so they’ve become ubiquitous. The other thing I learned was not to forget the way that inventions reshape organizations, reshape the way we live, reshape societies. Often in order to use an invention, take advantage of an invention, you need an awful lot of adjustment. The classic example, which will be well known, I think, to some EconTalk listeners, is Paul David’s essay on “The Dynamo of the Computer”, reflecting on how long it took electric motors to be adopted in manufacturing in the late 19th-early 20th century, because people had to completely readjust, reconfigure the factories, retrain the workers. I mean, just everything had to change in order to take advantage of this new technology. And initially when it was used, they tried to direct replacement to the steam engine–just rip out a big steam engine, replace it with a big electric motor, and that should be fine. And of course that doesn’t realize the gains. Because to really take advantage of these technology, we often have to change, and adjust the way we do things–the way we work, the way we live. Otherwise we don’t enjoy the benefits. And sometimes those changes can be–well, they are very hard to predict, but they are occasionally quite hard, quite wrenching.

1 thought on “Tim Harford and Russ Roberts

  1. By 1870 Davenport in Vermont was making rotary DC motors. The first AC power station was built in 1891. Edison did lights in 1880. First motor driven cash register in 1906, electric car starter in 1911. I think 8% of homes were electrified by 1923.

    What drove the pace of innovation between 1890 and 1923? Skilled trade magazines and electrical parts catalogues. The skilled trade press has been the driver, way back to the Farmer;s Almanac, the Sears catalogue. In 1901 there was a popular press called Amateur work, and tat broke out into the professional and ameteur skilled trademag. By 1910 the auto industry had well established technical press on all items related to automobiles, which would include auto electric. By 1905 the electrical contractors association was organizing the standard wire and insulation tables for retro-fittiong houses.

    We had to build supply networks, and we have always used the skilled trade press, until the web.

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