The Trouble with Computers: Usefulness, Usability and Productivity.

• Author: Yoon, Yong J.

Man's hankering for intelligent devices dies hard. Since the time of our cave-dwelling ancestors, the adaptability of our physiology has not changed much; the size of our brain and the dexterity of our hands have not improved. But we have constantly added new tools for growing crops and building shelters, for governing and waging wars, and for building jet airlines. We have also learned how to design and apply computers, which have fascinated many visionaries including economists.

Economists have been constantly interested in the information technology that was made possible by computers. Herbert Simon and others economists believe that this is equivalent to the industrial revolution. But Landauer, a cognitive psychologist (not an economist), tells us that, considering the early enthusiasm and heavy investment in the computers, the performance record of computers in enhancing productivity has been poor. He believes the computers are in deep trouble.

Those nations, industries or people, who have invested heavily in the computers have not received proportional returns except to those who sell computers. Only the communications industry appears to have exploited the technology to significant advantage. This issue certainly concerns economists, especially when many economists suspect that information technology is partly responsible for the current income inequality and the impoverishing of low-skill workers in the United States and Europe.

Landauer reviews statistical data and asserts economic conjectures on the computers and information technology. Some of them are not very convincing or fully justified, but I found them interesting. Against the conventional view that the spillover effect of computers is higher than we see from statistical data alone, the author argues that the computer did not contribute much in productivity. The author also argues that the productivity decline in the '70s was caused by the poor investment in computer technology. Landauer thinks that evolution of the market, or market force, does not bring about the potential of computers. Economists would ask: then what would?

What is more interesting is his insight into the use of the computers in increasing labor productivity. The improvement in computer hardware has been impressive and reduces calculation costs dramatically. Their raw power for computation continues to double every few years. But, Landauer argues correctly that calculation is only a small fraction of...