Notably, new technologies, despite greatly adding to cost in many cases, have also yielded significant benefits in the form of better health. People put great value on their health, and it is not surprising that, as our society becomes wealthier, we would choose to spend more on health-care services.
That propensity to spend, in turn, has been spurred by the rise in equity and home prices, which our analysis suggests can account for at least one percentage point of GDP growth over the past three years.