From Long Waves to Great Surges

This article maps the continuation of the late Chris Freeman’s work on long waves as well as my own contributions along those lines. It begins with a brief summary of the contents of his 2001 book with Francisco Louca, As Time Goes By: from the Industrial Revolutions to the Information Revolution, where they, first, theoretically make the case for long waves in the capitalist economy on the basis of ‘reasoned history’ and they, then, qualitatively describe each of the successive technological revolutions and the transformations they bring. Next, the article presents the reasons for my own abandonment of the term “long waves” for that of “great surges” followed by the research consequences of shifting the focus from the rate of economic growth to the patterns of diffusion of each set of revolutionary technologies. Finally it draws the implications for policy making of the recurring sequence thus identified, which is the purpose Chris Freeman always pursued himself and encouraged us all to pursue.