Northwestern economist, Robert Gordon, appears to have set
off a fresh round of debate on the potential sustainability of growth in the US
over the long run. In his NBER paper (Is U.S. Economic Growth Over? Faltering Innovation Confronts the Six Headwinds), he argues that US productivity
growth rate has returned to a low growth trend (following a brief spike between 1996 and 2004) and that the economy faces major headwinds that are
likely to reduce future growth prospects.