The problem has little to do with politics, taxes or regulations. Citing research by Northwestern University’s Robert Gordon, Grantham says life-altering innovations such as electricity, refrigeration and antibiotics between 1870 and 1970 were an aberration in economic history. Cool as it may be, the revolution people experienced on their desktops since 1980 isn’t going to produce anything like the same kind of gains in living standards or productivity.
Saving sharper words for England, he believes the tiny island that always punched way above its weight has lost its way with Brexit. “The propaganda around it was most deplorable,” he says. The Brexiteers “lied through their teeth in a cynical, manipulative election. In its way, it was worse than ours. What all this has to say about the future of elections is nothing good.”
Surprisingly enough, it is the environment where Grantham sees glimmers of hope. Since 2010, the cost of batteries for electric cars has fallen from $1,000 per 1,000 kilowatts to $160. Many believe the magic number when batteries become competitive with gasoline is about $100. By the middle of the next decade, the cost could fall to $60. At that point, cars running on gasoline could be running for the hills.