Home > Author > Philippe Aghion
1 " It may seem paradoxical that innovation should increase both the share of income of the richest 1 percent (top income inequality) and social mobility. Yet the comparison among different American states suggests that this is indeed the case. For example, if we compare California, currently among the most innovative states in the United States, with Alabama, which is among the least innovative, we find that the share of the state’s total income that goes to the top 1 percent is significantly higher in California than in Alabama. At the same time, social mobility is substantially higher in California than in Alabama. "
― Philippe Aghion , The Power of Creative Destruction: Economic Upheaval and the Wealth of Nations
2 " The United States incarnates a more cutthroat form of capitalism, while the Scandinavian countries, and to a lesser extent Germany, are the representatives of a more cuddly capitalism. According to this view, insofar as innovation at the technological frontier relies on strong monetary incentives, the countries that aim for frontier innovation should forgo the goals of insurance and equality: in other words, they should renounce “cuddly capitalism” in favor of a “cutthroat” form of capitalism. As for the countries who choose cuddly capitalism, they would have no alternative but growth by imitation of technologies invented by the frontier countries. The “cuddly” countries provide their citizens with greater equality and insurance, but their growth depends ultimately on the growth of the “cutthroat” countries, which, one might say, work for the benefit of the rest of the world. "
3 " The preferred measure of the wealth of nations is per capita gross domestic product (per capita GDP). Why should we focus on this dry statistic rather than on more literal measures, such as indexes of well-being, consumption, or happiness? "
4 " destrucción creativa es un proceso mediante el cual emergen continuamente nuevas innovaciones, convirtiendo en obsoletas las tecnologías existentes. "