Carol - I did mention this very briefly in the article as part of my summary of Robert Gordon's book, The Rise And Fall Of American Growth. He goes deeper on it in his book, but it's just one idea of many, many ideas he covers. But, I agree, it would be fascinating to read more on this. Let me know if you find any resources you recommend.

It is a fascinating topic and incredibly nuanced. This article was about 6,000 words, and I literally left 30,000 words on the cutting floor. I'm hoping to re-use some of that in future articles.