Norberg, whose previous work includes the highly successful In Defense of Global Capitalism, looked at the global food supply, sanitation, life expectancy, poverty, violence, environmental quality, literacy, political freedom and child labor. He found that:
Despite what we hear on the news and from many authorities, the great story of our era is that we are witnessing the greatest improvement in global living standards ever to take place. Poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, child labor and infant mortality are falling faster than at any other time in human history. Life expectancy at birth has increased more than twice as much in the last century as it did in the previous 200,000 years. The risk that any individual will be exposed to war, die in a natural disaster, or be subject to dictatorship has become smaller than in any other epoch. A child born today is more likely to reach retirement age than his forbearers were to live to their fifth birthday.
Norberg suggests three reasons for the massive improvements in global standards of living. First, he credits the intellectual Enlightenment, which replaced traditions and superstitions with reason and empiricism. Second, he points to the ideas of classical liberalism, which replaced serfdom and authoritarianism with individual liberty and liberal democracy. Third, he notes the role played by the Industrial Revolution in replacing hunger and poverty with prosperity and abundance.
As we near the culmination of an election season that sees the ideas of classical liberalism, the Enlightenment and free enterprise in retreat, and demagoguery, authoritarianism and protectionism in ascendancy, it is good to remind ourselves of the progress that humanity has made thanks to economic and civil freedoms. As such, I include Norberg’s chart showing the extraordinary global decline in child mortality, hunger, illiteracy, pollution and poverty since the fall of communism and rise of globalization in 1990.
“In its warehouses, Asda uses a system from Swiss automation firm Swisslog and Norway’s AutoStore. In the US, Walmart has been automating parts of its supply chain using robotics from an American company called Symbotic.
Back in Luton, Ocado has taken its automation process to a higher level.
The robots which zoom around the grid, now bring items to robotic arms, which reach out and grab what they need for the customer’s shop.
Bags of rice, boxes of tea, packets of crumpets are all grabbed by the arms using a suction cup on the end.”
“Quitting time has been shifting earlier throughout the week, and it’s especially early on Friday, according to an analysis of sign-off times from some 75,000 workers at 816 companies by the workplace analytics firm ActivTrak.
Friday sign-off times have moved up from around 5 p.m. at the start of 2021 to around 4 p.m. now. Monday-Thursday sign-offs have also shifted earlier, to around 5 p.m. on average.”
Remote Work Is Here to Stay, Mostly for the Better
“As I wrote in a chapter of my recent Cato book, remote work helps employers—especially newer and smaller ones—expand their pool of potential workers, retain the workers they already have, and lower their commercial real estate costs. It can also help workers and employers find better, more productive matches and can boost employment among formerly marginalized workers—outcomes that are good for both the people involved and the broader U.S. economy.
When I wrote that book chapter in mid‐2022, however, the future of remote work was cloudy: Data on its effects and durability were limited; pandemic‐era restrictions were (mostly) gone, thus eliminating some of the remote work necessity; companies and workers were still figuring out such details as the proper balance between home and office; and some employers—especially at big, highly visible companies—were calling their workers back into the office full time. All of those factors made whether we were reverting to the old normal or experiencing a new one an open question.
Today, however, we have a lot more information, and it’s increasingly clear remote work is here to stay—and mostly for the better.”
Productivity Surge Helps Explain US Economy’s Resilience
“Chronic worker shortages have led many companies to invest in machines to do some of the work they can’t find people to do. They’ve also been training the workers they do have to use advanced technology so they can produce more with less.
The result has been an unexpected productivity boom.”
