Knowra Technological change Technological change Technological change is the development and adoption of tools, techniques, and systems that alter human capabilities. It includes both incremental improvements and shifts that reorganize economic and social life.
Innovation : The creation or improvement of products, processes, or organizational practices that are put to use. Technological change is one form of innovation, involving tools and systems that expand human capabilities.
Neolithic Revolution : The transition in many regions from foraging to agriculture and settled communities. Farming technologies altered food production, settlement, and the scale of human societies.
Joseph Schumpeter : An Austrian-born economist who analyzed entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic development. His account of creative destruction explains how innovation can drive economic transformation.
Mechanization : The use of machines to perform tasks previously done by hand or with simpler tools. Mechanization changes the speed, scale, and skill requirements of production.
Economic growth : An increase over time in the production of goods and services in an economy. Technological progress can raise productivity and expand what an economy can produce.
Diffusion of innovations : The process by which a new idea or technology spreads through a population or social system. A technology changes society only as people and organizations adopt and adapt it.
Industrial Revolution : The transformation from predominantly agrarian economies to mechanized industrial production, beginning in Britain in the eighteenth century. Mechanization and fossil-fuel power produced a major acceleration in technological and economic change.
Robert Solow : An American economist whose growth model and empirical work helped establish the role of technological progress in economic growth. His research distinguished technological progress from growth explained by labor and capital alone.
Electrification : The adoption of electrical power systems for lighting, industry, transport, and domestic use. Electric power enabled flexible factory layouts and new appliances and services.
Productivity : The amount of output produced from a given quantity of inputs, such as labor or capital. Productivity gains are a central channel through which new technologies affect living standards.
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