In 1980′s it took 6 hrs to get to my grandmothers place. Today it is more like 3 hrs. All that not because of better cars but because there’s a highway covering most of the distance.
In 1980 people rarely traveled by plane. A holiday by seaside meant a 12 hour ride by car to Yugoslavia. Today, everyone’s flying to Turkey and Canary Islands.
Ah, you are from Eastern Europe? To clarify, the stagnation hypothesis is about the frontier of technological development in the wealthiest countries. I don’t think there has necessarily been stagnation in global development.
I was speaking from personal experience.
In 1980′s it took 6 hrs to get to my grandmothers place. Today it is more like 3 hrs. All that not because of better cars but because there’s a highway covering most of the distance.
In 1980 people rarely traveled by plane. A holiday by seaside meant a 12 hour ride by car to Yugoslavia. Today, everyone’s flying to Turkey and Canary Islands.
Ah, you are from Eastern Europe? To clarify, the stagnation hypothesis is about the frontier of technological development in the wealthiest countries. I don’t think there has necessarily been stagnation in global development.
Yes, I am from Eastern Europe. That made me wonder whether the densification of the road system has slowed down in the west.
Here are statistics for the US:
In short, there’s a slowdown, but it starts in ’90.
Source
Air miles per capita seem to tell a different story though:
Source