It doesn't matter how ahead you are now. Countries catch up, at times quickly, at times not so quickly. But they do, because economies hit diminishing returns once they reach the technological frontier. If they didn't, Europeans would've left everyone in the dust by now and be on their way to galactic hegemony.
I think it useful to explain somewhat deeper on the new technology frontier.
For example in the field of transportation.
Today, cars use internal combustion engines powered by oil.
Internal combustion engine technology has matured and reached a plateau. We sees automakers invest billions and get a 2% improvement.
All the easy oil deposits have been tapped out, so the price of oil trends upwards every year now.
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However, in the next industrial revolution, it is car batteries powered by electricity.
Today, the benchmark price of electricity is set by coal in both China and the USA, and indeed, in much of the world.
And today, unsubsidised wind and solar is typically 3x cheaper than coal. Note that coal produced electricity is a mature technology.
So in the future, it'll probably be solar that sets the electricity benchmark price.
In terms of cars using electric motors and batteries, I expect the 15 year operating cost will drop to at least half of a petrol car.
When you combine these two elements together, you get 6x improvement in car efficiency.
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So you see how the technology frontier is shifting, and that the first country to adopt these technologies will have a productivity and therefore wage advantage. And we haven't even discussed what will happen if China is the first country to see electricity benchmark prices drop 3x.
NB. This is a very simplified example, as there are a whole bunch of assumptions and caveats that I haven't outlined, but you get the idea.