Question

In your textbook discusses productivity and the challenges faced by governments as they seek to raise living standards. Obviously, there are areas of disagreement and areas of potential improvement. If you were polled, what policy would you suggest to improve U.S. living standards?

In your post, make sure to consider opportunity cost and any potential unintended consequences. You may also want to analyze the effect on future growth as you post and reply.

Answer 1

Countries face many challenges when they try to raise productivity and living standards.

Step-by-step explanation:

One challenge is that productive actitives requires an educated population. Giving high quality education to people can be difficult and expensive. The human and physical resources may simply not be available.

Another challenge is that due to the law of diminishing marginal returns, as countries develop, it becomes harder for them to enjoy high economic growth. This is why developed countries tend to grow less than developing countries.

The United States, as a developed country, faces mainly the second challenge. To continue raising productivity, the U.S. should focus on high quality education. According to many economists, human capital is the most important form of capital, and for this reason, skilled, well-educated citizens are likely to be very productive, and contribute to the development of the country.