Saturday, January 21, 2012

In what specific way did the Industrial Revolution change the U.S. economy? How is the Information Revolution changing the economy once again?

The biggest change in the economy during the Industrial Revolution was the transformation from it being agriculturally based to manufacturing based.  "Cottage Industries" existed long before industrialization, where small groups of individuals would fabricate something; mostly these activities had to do with some kind of textiles.  However, textile factories could produce textiles of better quality more cheaply, and could pay higher wages for the work.  In fact, it paid better than farming could, so people naturally gravitated to where they could make the most money.


Our current Information Revolution has similarly altered the economy by creating efficiencies within businesses that didn't and couldn't exist before; online ordering and Ebay come to mind.  In terms of an individuals work, no longer must one commute to a central office; the decentralization of the workforce will create more efficiencies (imagine not having to commute back and forth to work) since more time can be spent working.  To be able to find, interpret, and implement information will be the new standard of labor, requiring an extensive skill set, much more so than being a factory worker handling a textile machine or a farmer cultivating a piece of land as in past times.

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