<P> The motor of this incessant force of creative destruction is technological change . While the key carrier technology of the first Industrial Revolution ( 1770 -- 1850 ) was based on water - powered mechanization , the second Kondratiev wave ( 1850 -- 1900 ) was enabled by steam - powered technology , the third ( 1900 -- 1940 ) was characterized by the electrification of social and productive organization , the fourth by motorization and the automated mobilization of society ( 1940 -- 1970 ) , and the most recent one by the digitization of social systems . Each one of those so - called long waves has been characterized by a sustained period of social modernization , most notably by sustained periods of increasing economic productivity . According to Carlota Perez : `` this quantum jump in productivity can be seen as a technological revolution , which is made possible by the appearance in the general cost structure of a particular input that we could call the ' key factor ' , fulfilling the following conditions : ( 1 ) clearly perceived low - and descending - relative cost ; ( 2 ) unlimited supply for all practical purposes ; ( 3 ) potential all - pervasiveness ; ( 4 ) a capacity to reduce the costs of capital , labour and products as well as to change them qualitatively '' . Digital Information and Communication Technologies fulfill those requirements and therefore represent a general purpose technology that can transform an entire economy , leading to a modern , and more developed form of socio - economic and political organization often referred to as the post-industrial society , the fifth Kondratiev , Information society , digital age , and network society , among others . </P>
the most recent technological change to the u.s. economy was
the digitization of social systems