The Role of Technology in Modern Economies

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To answer the question “Why do some countries grow faster than others?”, I argue that foremost technology and investment are the largest contributors to the economic growth of a nation, with government influence coming in second, as it can legislate factors that can inhibit or advance technological advance. Fundamentally, for a nation to prosper and thus grow it is necessary that the nation's society to have a few key features. A stable society that on some level, whether it be private or at a national level, is able to trade with other nations. A culture that is not insular to allow such trading. And some sort of governance to ensure a resolution of misgivings amongst its citizens, or in other words common laws, protection from external threats, and a common currency for trade within a nation. These factors help form the foundation of a nation that is able to support a prosperous and healthy economy. At the heart of the economy of a nation is its system of governance and without it the question of economic growth is almost meaningless. It is clearly evident that if a nation is entrenched in a war on its own soil with another nation or even itself, in the event of a civil war, that economic growth will be greatly hindered and not lead to even the prospect of prosperity or recovery until such a scenario is ended, and this is what I mean by a stable society. Some key factors to bear in mind when assessing economic growth are the current total productivity of a nation, how well developed its infrastructure is, its rate of technologic advancement, the quality and degree of its trade with other nations, and its citizen's consumption behavior.
I will propose that all of these factors are affected by the investment behavior and tech...

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...and if there were to be no technologic development in a nation it would eventually lose its competitive advantage to trade with other nations as they outstripped that nation's production because of new advancements.

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