View source for General-purpose technology

{{Short description|Generative Technologies}}
{{more footnotes|date=March 2012}}
'''General-purpose technologies''' ('''GPTs''') are technologies that can affect an entire [[Economic system|economy]] (usually at a [[nation]]al or global level).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Z77ngEACAAJ&q=editions:k1KIY0NfxM0C|title=The Unbound Prometheus: Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe from ...|last=Landes|first=David S.|date=1976|publisher=At the University Press|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/insideblackboxte00rose|url-access=registration|quote=editions:rcZYDd5BgC0C.|title=Inside the Black Box: Technology and Economics|last=Rosenberg|first=Nathan|date=1982|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521273671|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Bresnahan|first1=Timothy F.|last2=Trajtenberg|first2=M.|date=1995-01-01|title=General purpose technologies 'Engines of growth'?|journal=Journal of Econometrics|volume=65|issue=1|pages=83–108|doi=10.1016/0304-4076(94)01598-T|url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w4148.pdf}}</ref> GPTs have the potential to drastically alter societies through their impact on pre-existing economic and social structures. The archetypal examples of GPTs are the [[steam engine]], [[electricity]], and [[information technology]]. Other examples include the [[railroad]], [[interchangeable parts]], [[electronics]], [[material handling]], [[mechanization]], [[control theory]] ([[automation]]), the [[automobile]], the [[computer]], the [[Internet]], [[medicine]], and [[artificial intelligence]], in particular [[generative pre-trained transformer]]s.

In economics, it is theorized that initial adoption of a new GPT within an economy may, before improving [[productivity#Productivity_paradox|productivity]], actually decrease it,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Liao|first1=Hailin|last2=Wang|first2=Bin|last3=Li|first3=Baibing|last4=Weyman-Jones|first4=Tom|date=2016-09-01|title=ICT as a general-purpose technology: The productivity of ICT in the United States revisited|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167624516300348|journal=Information Economics and Policy|language=en|volume=36|pages=10–25|doi=10.1016/j.infoecopol.2016.05.001|s2cid=26020335 |issn=0167-6245}}</ref> due to: time required for development of new [[infrastructure]]; [[retraining|learning costs]]; and, [[obsolescence]] of old technologies and skills.  This can lead to a "productivity J-curve" as unmeasured intangible assets are built up and then harvested. <ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Brynjolfsson|first1=Erik|last2=Rock|first2=Daniel|last3=Syverson|first3=Chad|title=The Productivity J-Curve: How Intangibles Complement General Purpose Technologies|url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w25148.pdf|journal=American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics|year=2021 |language=en|volume=13|pages=333–372|doi=10.1257/mac.20180386 }}</ref> Impending timeframe to utilize the latent benefits of the new technology is deemed a [[trade-off]]. Spin-out firms/inventors from organizations that had developed GPTs play an important role in developing applications for GPTs. However, it has been observed that the level of cumulative innovation in GPTs diminishes as more spin-outs into application development occur.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shimizu |first=Hiroshi |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-13-3714-7 |title=General purpose technology, spin-out, and innovation: technological development of laser diodes in the United States and Japan |date=2019 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-981-13-3714-7 |series=Advances in Japanese business and economics |location=Singapore |author-link=Hiroshi Shimizu (professor)}}</ref>

== Historical GPT according to Lipsey and Carlaw ==
Economists [[Richard Lipsey]] and Kenneth Carlaw suggest that there have only been 24 technologies in history that can be classified as true GPTs.<ref>{{cite book |last = Lipsey |first = Richard |authorlink = Richard Lipsey |author2=Kenneth I. Carlaw |author3=Clifford T. Bekhar |year = 2005 |title = Economic Transformations: General Purpose Technologies and Long-Term Economic Growth |url = https://archive.org/details/economictransfor00lips |url-access = registration |publisher = Oxford University Press |isbn = 978-0-19-928564-8 |pages = [https://archive.org/details/economictransfor00lips/page/n153 131]–218}}</ref> They define a transforming GPT according to the four criteria listed below:
# is a single, recognisable generic technology
# initially has much scope for improvement but comes to be widely used across the economy 
# has many different uses
# creates many spillover effects
Since their book, more GPTs have been added for the 21st century.{{by whom|date=January 2022}} 

A GPT can be a product, a process or an organisational system.

===Foundational===

The earliest technologies mentioned by Lipsey and Carlaw occur before the Neolithic period and have not been cast as GPTs, however, they are innovations that the other 24 rely upon. 
{| class="wikitable"
!
!Classification
!Date
|-
|Spoken [[Origin of language|Language]]
|process
|Pre-10,000 BC
|-
|[[Clothing#Origin of clothing|Clothing]]
|product
|Pre-10,000 BC
|-
|[[Control of fire by early humans|Mastery of fire]]
|process
|Pre-10,000 BC
|-
|[[coiling (pottery)|Coil pottery]]
|product
|Pre-10,000 BC
|-
|Weapons ([[Stone Age#Beginning of the Stone Age|sharp-edged tools]])
|product
|Pre-10,000 BC
|}

===Expanded list of 25 technologies===

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! GPT !! Spillover Effects !! Date !! Classification  
|-
| [[Domestication|Domestication of plants]] || [[Neolithic Revolution|Neolithic agricultural revolution]] || [[Neolithic founder crops|9000-8000 BC]] || process
|-
| [[Domestication|Domestication of animals]] || [[Neolithic Revolution|Neolithic agricultural revolution]], [[working animal]]s || [[History of sheep|8500-7500 BC]] || process
|-
| [[Smelting|Smelting of ore]] || [[technology#Metal tools|early metal tools]] || 8000-7000 BC || process
|-
| [[Money]] || [[trade]], [[exchange rate|record keeping]] || [[history of money|9000–6000 BC]] || process
|-
| [[Wheel]] || [[mechanization]], [[potter's wheel]] || 4000–3000 BC || product
|-
| [[Writing]] || [[trade]], [[historian|record keeping]], [[poetry]] || [[history of writing|3400-3200 BC]] || process
|-
| [[Bronze]] || [[Bronze Age sword|tools & weapons]] || [[Bronze Age|2800 BC]] || product
|-
| [[Iron]] || [[Iron Age sword|tools & weapons]] || [[Iron Age|1200 BC]] || product
|-
| [[Water wheel]] || [[power (physics)|inanimate power]], [[mechanical system]]s || [[Early Middle Ages]] || product
|-
| [[Carrack|Three-masted sailing ship]] || [[Voyages of Christopher Columbus|discovery of the New World]], [[Age of Discovery|maritime trade]], [[colonialism]] || [[Portuguese Empire|15th century]] || product
|-
| [[Printing press|Printing]] || [[knowledge economy]], [[Science in the Age of Enlightenment#Popular science in print|science education]], [[credit (finance)|financial credit]] || [[history of printing|16th century]] || process
|-
| [[Factory system]] || [[Industrial Revolution]], [[interchangeable parts]] || [[Richard Arkwright|late 18th century]] || organisation 
|-
| [[Steam Engine]] || [[Industrial Revolution]], [[machine tool]]s || [[history of the steam engine|late 18th century]] || product
|-
| [[Railways]] || [[suburbs]], [[commuting]], [[urban planning|flexible location of factories]] || [[history of rail transport|mid 19th century]] || product 
|-
| [[Steamboat|Iron steamship]] || [[British Agricultural Revolution#Advances that helped the Agriculture Revolution|global agricultural trade]], [[tourism|international tourism]], [[Dreadnought|dreadnought battleship]] || [[Aaron Manby|mid 19th century]] || product
|-
| [[Internal combustion engine]] || [[automobile]], [[airplane]], [[Petroleum industry|oil industry]], [[third generation warfare|mobile warfare]] || [[history of the internal combustion engine|late 19th century]] || product 
|-
| [[Electricity]] || [[electrical grid|centralized power generation]], [[mass production#Factory electrification|factory electrification]], [[electrical telegraph|telegraphic communication]] || [[history of electromagnetic theory|late 19th century]] || product
|-
| [[Automobile]] || [[suburbs]], [[commuting]], [[shopping mall|shopping centres]], [[tourism|long-distance domestic tourism]] || [[history of the automobile|20th century]] || product
|-
| [[Airplane]] || [[tourism|international tourism]], [[sports league|international sports leagues]], [[third generation warfare|mobile warfare]] || [[history of aviation|20th century]] || product
|-
| [[Mass production]] || [[consumerism]], [[Progressive Era#National economic policy|growth of US economy]], [[industrial warfare]] || [[Henry Ford|20th century]] || organisation
|-
| [[Computer]] || [[Digital Revolution]], [[Internet]] || [[history of computing hardware|20th century]] || product  
|-
| [[Lean production]] || [[Japanese post-war economic miracle|Growth of Japanese economy]], [[agile software development]] || [[Toyota Production System|20th century]] || organisation 
|-
| [[Internet]] || [[electronic business]], [[crowdsourcing]], [[social networking service|social networking]], [[information warfare]] || [[history of the Internet|20th century]] || product 
|-
| [[Biotechnology]] || [[genetically modified food]], [[bioengineering]], [[gene therapy]] || [[history of biotechnology|20th century]] || process
|-

| [[Nanotechnology]] || [[nanomaterials]], [[nanomedicine]], [[quantum dot solar cell]], [[Targeted therapy|targeted cancer therapy]] || [[History of nanotechnology|21st century]] || product 
|-

|}

Steam engine increased labor productivity annually by 0.34%; IT by 0.6% (1995–2005); robotics by 0.36% (1993–2007).<ref>{{Cite journal | url=https://hbr.org/2015/06/robots-seem-to-be-improving-productivity-not-costing-jobs | title=Robots Seem to be Improving Productivity, Not Costing Jobs | journal=Harvard Business Review | date=16 June 2015 | last1=Muro | first1=Mark | last2=Andes | first2=Scott }}</ref>

{{notelist}}

== GPT in military and defense-related procurement ==
In his book, ''Is War Necessary for Economic Growth?: Military Procurement and Technology Development'', [[Vernon W. Ruttan]], Regents Professor Emeritus in the Department of Applied Economics at the [[University of Minnesota]], examines the impact of military and defense-related procurement on U.S. technology development.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ruttan |first=Vernon |author-link=Vernon W. Ruttan|title=Is War Necessary for Economic Growth?: Military Procurement and Technology Development |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-19-518804-2|location=New York}}</ref> Ruttan identifies the development of six general-purpose technologies:

* Interchangeable parts and mass production
* Military and commercial aircraft
* Nuclear energy
* Computers and semi-conductors
* The Internet
* The space industries

Based on his reading of the histories of these technologies, Ruttan finds that military and defense-related procurement has been a major source of technology development. He believes that the current technological landscape would look very different in the absence of military and defense-related contributions to commercial technology development. However, from his research, Ruttan determines that commercial technology development would have occurred in the absence of military procurement but more slowly, e.g., the aircraft, computer, and Internet industries. He cites nuclear power as an example of a general-purpose technology that would not have developed in the absence of military and defense-related procurement.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0262082632 General Purpose Technologies and Economic Growth]{{snd}} edited by Elhanan Helpman
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070702160325/http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780199290895 Economic Transformations: General Purpose Technologies And Long-Term Economic Growth] by Richard G. Lipsey, Kenneth I. Carlaw,  Clifford T. Bekar
* [https://techforevers.com/ Usage History of Industrial Robotics from IFR]
* [https://www.margolis.co.uk/half-businesses-could-go-paperless-2015 Paperless office adoption statistics – 2015]
* [http://www.seia.org/research-resources/solar-industry-data Installed solar capacity and solar employment growth – 2015]


[[Category:Technological change]]
[[Category:Economic growth]]