- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is worried the technological advancements of the past decade aren't translating into broad economic growth, the way that the Industrial Revolution did.
- Nadella cited concerns from economic Robert Gordon, who has argued the so-called "Digital Revolution" is not acting as a profound catalyst for growth across industries despite what "techno-optimists" say.
- "In the 2010s, in spite of quote-unquote 'all of this progress in technology,' it's not showing up in broad-spectrum economic growth," Nadella said.
- Nadella has generally taken a more optimistic approach to those concerns than Gordon, and once cited the lack of economic growth as an opportunity.
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The technological advancements of the past decade aren't translating into broader economic growth - and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is worried.
Nadella on Monday said he's worried about concerns raised by Robert Gordon, the Northwestern University economic who has argued the United States has been on a slow productivity decline and technology isn't leading to broad economic growth despite assertions from those he calls "techno-optimists."
"The foundation issue for us since at least that dawn of the industrial economy has been that any activity better lead to broad economic growth," Nadella told reporters on Monday at a media event. "Quite frankly, I am worried."
The UA, Gordon has argued, is up against hurdles over the next 50 years including an aging population, inequality and debt. Moreover, he says, technological innovations aren't acting as a catalyst for growth across industries in the same way as developments of a similar scale during the Industrial Revolution.
"Critique of productivity in the United States is something I believe in," Nadella said. "In fact, I take pride in the fact that [Gordon] said the last time he saw information technology show up in productivity stats was the PC revolution...in the 2010s, in spite of quote-unquote all of this progress in technology, it's not showing up in broad-spectrum economic growth."
The Industrial Revoluation had a "broad sectorial impact in productivity in growth," he said, the kind of impact that just isn't showing up when it comes to the information technology sectors. Gordon has argued the that ongoing "Digital Revolution" will have a much less profound impact on society than those that have come before, including electricity, pharmaceuticals and modern communications.
This isn't the first time Nadella has cited Gordon's concerns. He mentioned Gordon's 2016 book "The Rise and Fall of American Growth," in a 2018 speech at the company's Build developer conference.
Nadella has taken a more optimistic approach to those concerns than Gordon, citing the lack of economic growth as an opportunity.
Nadella on Monday said productivity is what Microsoft means when it says its mission is to help people "achieve more." And computing, he said in his 2018 speech, is becoming embedded in everything.
"If you think about the sheer computing power that is getting distributed, and how that computing power is being used to collect data, fuse sensor data, reason over that data, create the rich experiences throughout our life, it's pretty stunning," he said in 2018. "That's the opportunity that we have. It's in some sense endless."
Nicholas Carlson contributed reporting to this story.
