Prometheus unbound

Professor Nicholas Onuf argued in the February 1984 issue of Futures that those participating in the revival of interest in long waves of economic activity had generally failed to relate their analyses to the debate on growth spawned by Limits to Growth. The challenge is taken up in this article, which relates the two debates in terms of the role of technology in long-term growth and cycles; changes in ‘technological paradigm’ are seen as a major feature of each successive growth cycle. The article finally discusses the effects of paradigm change on employment and investment, and confronts the central issue of Onuf's paper—the social and political effects of the micro-electronics revolution.