A CHANGING CULTURE PRODUCES A CHANGING ECONOMY

In 1928 John Maynard Keynes, in a brief essay he titled, “Economic Possibilities For Our Grandchildren,” predicted that within one hundred years technology would solve what he called mankind’s economic problem, and we would live in “an age of leisure and of abundance”. Everyone would want some work to do – fifteen hours per week should be enough, he reasoned.

Here we are, almost one hundred years later, and the average work week in the private sector is 34.4 hours. It is not likely that we can cut that to 15 in the time left until we hit Keynes’ deadline five years hence, unless Generative Artificial Intelligence breaks all historical records for the time it takes for innovations to have a real impact. But serious efforts are underway to cut back on the intensity and amount of work demanded of us all.