Knowledge economies in Russia and the UK

Hardly any economist or economic historian now disputes that technical progress and advances in scientific knowledge underpin all long-term, sustained economic growth. Sure, in the short run, sharp spurts of improvement in economic performance can arise from investing in factories, streamlining transportation and distribution networks, bettering market structure, and removing impediments to production and trade. But significant and desirable though such policy actions might be, by themselves they at best move society only towards a static and fixed state of increased economic welfare; further gains eventually grind to a halt. Only through improvements in technology can enduring growth continue.