The Great Stagnation - A Review

Tyler Cowen of George Mason University has a new book out titled The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All the Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better.

As this review in The Wall Street Journal explains, this is not likely to be the definitive explanation of the current economic downturn, but it could be among the most significant.

Cowen points out that the amazing success of the United States over the past 300 years (that includes a considerable period before we were the United States - I know) has been due to a unique mix of circumstances that he calls "low-hanging fruit". These were aspects that provided easy and quick return for the most part. They were easy to "pluck" and benefit from.  But Cowen points out that the easy stuff may be gone, and the sooner we realize that the sooner we can begin to benefit from the harder stuff by finding ways to get at it. That is what will bring renewed economic growth.

There are numerous reviews of this book elsewhere. Many of them echo the evaluation of the

Journal, this can be an important and a good read.  I'm adding it to my reading list and my carousel at left. I hope you'll be moved to purchase it. From what I can tell, it is currently only available in a Kindle edition.