Sir Francis Bacon explored as a medical question the issue of how human life spans might be returned to the near-thousand years enjoyed by Adam and the Patriarchs. Extended old age seemed feasible: reports told of people living well into their centenary. Meanwhile, New World natives were said to...

The usual way to evaluate the implications of new technology for economic growth is through growth accounting techniques. This methodology has, of course, been widely employed to examine the impact of information and communications technology (ICT) and the results have dominated thinking on the...