VOICES: PAUL ROMER

TITLE
Professor of economics, Stanford University. 42.

CONTRIBUTIONS
As creator of ''new growth theory,'' Romer has revolutionized the way economists think about growth. Rising living standards, he argues, depend more on encouraging innovation than on the accumulation of physical capital.

IN HIS WORDS
''We should be trying to increase the number of people involved in activities designed to generate new ideas. That is where the government can be quite powerful.''