Power, progress, and technology (with Daron Acemoglu)

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Civic Ventures

Business, Government, News, Politics

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 22 August 2023

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

New technologies are sold as a net benefit to society as a whole, but the truth is that technological progress is only loosely correlated to the improved welfare of the majority of citizens. This is not to say that technology and innovation are bad—we’re big supporters of both—but when tech CEOs hold all the power to make decisions that affect all of us, that becomes a problem. For a long time, technology has been used by the rich and powerful to further enrich themselves and consolidate their own power. Is there a way to ensure that everyone benefits from innovation—not just the wealthy few? Returning guest Daron Acemoglu shares insight from his new book on the subject, Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity. Daron Acemoglu is the Institute Professor of Economics at MIT, the university’s highest faculty honor. For the last twenty-five years, he has been researching the historical origins of prosperity, poverty, and the effects of new technologies on economic growth, employment, and inequality. He is an author (with James Robinson) of The Narrow Corridor and the New York Times bestseller Why Nations Fail. Twitter: @NarrowCorridor Power and Progress https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/daron-acemoglu/power-and-progress/9781541702530 Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Twitter: @PitchforkEcon Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Nick’s twitter: @NickHanauer

Transcript

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0:00.0	There is only a loose correlation between technology and the welfare of the majority of citizens,
0:07.0	which is not to say that technology is bad or that we shouldn't have it and we should not have innovation.
0:13.0	There are automatic, powerful forces that will ensure that as long as we remain innovative,
0:20.0	we will all benefit from technological advances and in fact we might even have something approaching shared prosperity.
0:31.0	From the home offices of civic ventures in downtown Seattle, this is pitchfork economics,
0:38.0	with Nick Hanauer, the best place to get the truth about who gets what and why.
0:49.0	I'm Nick Hanauer, founder of Civic Ventures.
0:52.0	I'm David Goldstein, senior fellow at Civic Ventures.
0:58.0	Goldie today, I'm so fired up because we get to talk to a returning guest,
1:06.0	but definitely one of our favorite economists in the whole wide world, and that's a short list.
1:12.0	Daron Han, who is the Institute Professor of Economics in MIT,
1:21.0	which is the University's highest faculty honor,
1:24.0	and he has written a ton of incredibly consequential books, including one of our absolute favorites,
1:32.0	why nations fail, but in addition the narrow corridor,
1:36.0	and he has a new book out that is super interesting and consequential called Power and Progress,
1:43.0	our thousand year struggle over technology and prosperity with his colleague Simon Johnson.
1:51.0	In that book they argue, as we have argued before, that there is only a loose correlation between technology and the welfare of the majority of citizens,
2:02.0	which is not to say that technology is bad or that we shouldn't have it and we should not have innovation,
2:08.0	but they make this really interesting argument about the necessity of power and discussing power in this framework.
2:19.0	I know you love the book.
2:21.0	Yeah, and most of our listeners are not economists, because let's be honest, economists,
2:27.0	I can't imagine why most of them would like this podcast, but a lot of you have taken Econ 101,
	...

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