Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty. I'm your host, Russ Roberts,

of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Our website is econtalk.org, or you can subscribe,

comment on this podcast, and find links and other information related to today's conversation.

We'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going

back to 2006. Our email address is mailadycontalk.org. We'd love to hear from you.

Today is May 8, 2014, and we are recording this episode of econtalk before a live audience

as part of the 33rd annual Santa Barbara County Economic Summit. Our topic for today is the future of work.

As you know, the economy has been sluggish over the last five years relative to previous

recoveries. The job market in particular has been very disappointing. New job creation has been

slow, and most of the reductions in unemployment have come from workers giving up. Some economists worry

that this is not a problem of the recovery, but a longer-term problem that will not go away even

if overall economic growth returns to healthy levels. This all takes place against a backdrop of

other concerns about the power of technology to eliminate some kinds of jobs, many many kinds of

jobs may be of my job in yours. The long-term decline of manufacturing employment in the United States

and growing inequality in compensation, and given that depressing introduction, a part of me

wants to go back to bed, curl up with a warm cup of cocoa, or maybe a shot of scotch.

But instead, we're going to hear from three outstanding guests who will perhaps lift our spirits a bit,

and if not at least make us a little bit smarter. Andrew McAfee studies how information technology

affects businesses and businesses a whole. He is a principal research scientist at the Center

for Digital Business at MIT Sloan School of Management. With Eric Benjolson, he's the author of

the second machine age, work, progress, and prosperity in a time of brilliant technologies.

Megan McCartle is a columnist at Bloomberg View and has been a correspondent for the Atlantic,

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