Tyler Cowen on Inequality, the Future, and Average is Over

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2013

⏱️ 60 minutes

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Summary

Tyler Cowen of George Mason University and blogger at Marginal Revolution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his latest book, Average is Over. Cowen takes a provocative look at how the growing power of artificial intelligence embodied in machines and technologies might change labor markets and the standard of living. He tries to predict which people and which skills will be complementary to smart machines and which people and which skills will struggle.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:06.4	I'm your host Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:11.0	Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find
0:16.0	links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:19.0	We'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going
0:23.3	back to 2006.
0:25.5	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org.
0:28.0	We'd love to hear from you.
0:33.0	Today is September 16th, 2013, and my guest is Tyler Cowan of George Mason University.
0:39.7	He blogs at Marginal Revolution, and his latest book is Average Is Over, Powering America
0:45.5	Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation.
0:47.6	Tyler, welcome back to Econ Talk.
0:49.3	Thank you, Russ.
0:51.3	Our topic for today is your new book, Average Is Over.
0:54.0	It is for me your most thought-provoking book.
0:56.8	It outlines a rather daring and daunting possible future for America and the world.
1:02.3	A mix of great optimism with, it seems to me, some pessimism, so let's start with the
1:07.3	title Average Is Over.
1:08.6	What are you saying with that title?
1:11.3	This is a book about the increase in income inequality in America, and it's trying to trace
1:16.4	through that trend and see what it looks like 10, 20 years out.
1:20.4	What are the advantages, what are the disadvantages, and what's driving it?
	...

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