[harryh]

> No economic rule I know of guarantees that to be the case.

Certainly there is no economic rule, however, I think that most people generally believe that for most of human history it has been the case that at least in the medium-to-long-term, top line growth does accrue pretty cleanly to the middle 50%.

There are certainly some people that are starting to wonder if this is no longer the case but personally I'm always pretty skeptical of "this time it's different!" arguments so am unconvinced by the evidence to date. Who knows what the future will hold though!

[rayiner]

I agree that top-line growth accrues to the middle 50%, but I think the proper question is: what policies maximize the prosperity of the middle 50% (as opposed to maximizing the top-line number)? That said, I expect the answer to that question is more or less what the developed democracies are already doing.

[harryh]

If the top line number continues to accrue to the middle 50% then maximizing the top-line number and maximizing the prosperity of the middle 50% are the same problem (at least in the long term). That's really my point.

[AnimalMuppet]

> If the top line number continues to accrue to the middle 50%...

If. But whether that "if" is true was, I think, rayiner's question.