>
>
> >So how much has material wealth grown in the past century?
> >
> >If you do need a single number, the Boskin Commission's number, that
> >inflation has been overstated and real growth understated by between
> >1 and 1.5 percent per year, is as good as any. Splitting the
> >difference, applying it to the past century, and taking into account
> >the decline in the number of hours worked per year all produce an
> >estimate that American real GDP and real incomes per work hour have
> >grown not sixfold but thirtyfold over the past century.
>
>
Sure. And it we make that 1.5, then we'll get eighty-fold. And if we make it 2.5, then we get 300-fold. On the other hand, if we make that -1., we are actually poorer than 100 years ago. It's more efficient if we decide what answer we want beforehand, then pick the comission accordingly.
-- Enrique Diaz-Alvarez Office # (607) 255 5034 Electrical Engineering Home # (607) 272 4808 112 Phillips Hall Fax # (607) 255 4565 Cornell University mailto:enrique at ee.cornell.edu Ithaca, NY 14853 http://peta.ee.cornell.edu/~enrique