Digitization and Value Creation

Often, the simplest economic questions are the hardest to answer. Consider these: How much economic value did the massive decline in the cost of digitization in the last two decades create? And, would a similar level of decline in the next decade create the same amount of value? These are surprisingly difficult questions to answer. Obviously, large cost declines create new value. How much value? We can look deeply at the past but still find it hard to answer that question with any precision. Many factors enhance or limit the extent of value created. If we cannot analyze the past, surely predicting the future is fraught with challenges.