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32 Int'l Lab. Rev. 5 (1935)
The Economic Implications of Material Progress

handle is hein.journals/intlr32 and id is 9 raw text is: The Economic Implications of Material Progress by Allan G. B. FISHER University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand The problem studied in this article is the nature of the changes which must be made in the structure of production if we are to enjoy the opportunities for material progress which are to-day available as a result of the growth of knowledge and of mankind's power to control its environment. An analysis of world economic history suggests that there are three main stages of economic de- velopment: the primary or agricultural stage ; the secondary or industrial stage ; and the tertiary stage, which should now be gaining on the others, and in which the emphasis is laid on the production of the goods and services (such as art, science, litera- ture, education, travel, and amusement) on which real civilisation depends. The author maintains that what is wanted in the present conditions is not a further increase in the supply of primary or even secondary products, except in the direction of better quality and greater variety, but rather a recognition of the impor- tance of the tertiary products and of the necessity of raising the general standard of life by diverting a continually increasing amount of labour and capital to this type of production. I. T HE whole world to-day is familiar with the absurd and tragic paradox of widespread poverty in the midst of potential plenty, and some people are perhaps a little weary of the bewildering variety of explanations which the paradox has called forth. In many of these explanations there is at least a grain of truth, and sometimes much more, but their effective- ness is often much diminished by failure to understand the nature

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