Why Our Knowledge Economy Can Survive the New Age of Pestilence

• Published in: MIT Sloan management review Vol. 62; no. 1; pp. 22 - 24
• Main Author: Mokyr, Joel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 01.10.2020
• Subjects: Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Economic growth; Economic impact; Knowledge; Knowledge economy; Pandemics; Prosperity; United States > US; Europe; Germany

Knowledge, once acquired, cannot easily be reversed. In theory, of course, knowledge can be lost when everyone who possesses it dies and there are no stored-up copies in books or models. If important knowledge is sufficiently diffused and accessible, however, it becomes increasingly unlikely that an...