Every 50 to 60 years, a paradigm shift occurs that affects the social, business, and economic order. The digital age is ushering in a new one.

Carlota Perez's book Technology Revolutions and Financial Capital links major technology developments with financial cycles. As she describes it, a phase typically starts when new technologies and financial capital begin to create a new way of doing things, as occurred during the Industrial Revolution, the dawn of the railways, and other eras.