The robots are coming… what now? (with Heidi Shierholz and Daron Acemoglu)

Pitchfork Economics with Nick Hanauer

Civic Ventures

Business, Government, News, Politics

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2019

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With every technological advancement since the dawn of time, conventional wisdom has warned that technology and automation kills jobs. But robots aren’t the root cause of our problems. Although technology has always changed the nature of work, this week's guests Heidi Shierholz and Daron Acemoglu argue that there is no evidence that it has led or will lead to overall increased joblessness, unemployment, or wage stagnation. Heidi Shierholz is a Senior Economist and the Director of Policy at the Economic Policy Institute. She was a Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Labor under President Obama from 2014 to 2017. Her research and insights on labor and employment policy, the effects of automation on the labor market, wage stagnation, inequality, and many other topics routinely shape policy proposals and inform economic news coverage. Twitter: @hshierholz Daron Acemoglu is a Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the co-author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling book ‘Why Nations Fail’, with James A. Robinson. In 2005, he received the John Bates Clark Medal, awarded to economists under forty judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge. Twitter: @DrDaronAcemoglu Further reading: The zombie robot argument lurches on (EPI): https://www.epi.org/publication/the-zombie-robot-argument-lurches-on-there-is-no-evidence-that-automation-leads-to-joblessness-or-inequality/ How robots became a scapegoat for the destruction of the working class (The Week): https://theweek.com/articles/837759/how-robots-became-scapegoat-destruction-working-class Automation, Job Loss, and the Welfare State (Council on Foreign Relations): https://www.cfr.org/event/automation-job-loss-and-welfare-state Robots, or automation, are not the problem (EPI): https://www.epi.org/publication/robots-or-automation-are-not-the-problem-too-little-worker-power-is/ Robots kill jobs. But they create jobs, too. (Brookings): https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2019/03/18/robots-kill-jobs-but-they-create-jobs-too/ Where Do Good Jobs Come From? (Project Syndicate): https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/automation-vs-job-creation-by-daron-acemoglu-2019-04?barrier=accesspaylog The Revolution Need Not Be Automated (Project Syndicate): https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/ai-automation-labor-productivity-by-daron-acemoglu-and-pascual-restrepo-2019-03?barrier=accesspaylog

Transcript

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0:14.8	Hi, I'm Annie Fadley. I am a Senior Policy Associate at Civic Ventures. We're going to get to the episode in a second, but first I wanted to tell you about an amazing new show that we're listening to called your primary playlist. If you're like us, you might feel a little fatigued already by this presidential primary. With such a diverse field of candidates that's
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0:45.0	a discussion of reproductive rights with Cecile Richards,
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0:59.0	Here's the show.
1:00.0	We cannot end up in a circumstance where we fear automation.
1:05.0	Many of us may lose our jobs because of robots.
1:09.0	It sounds like a newfangled problem, but the solution is actually pretty old school taking care of your workers.
1:14.4	Yes, it's not that complicated.
1:15.8	From the offices of Civic Ventures in downtown Seattle, this is Pitch Fork Economics with Nick Hanauer.
1:29.0	Confessions of an American capitalist caught on tape.
1:37.0	I'm Nick Henauer, founder of Civic Ventures. I'm Paul Constant and I'm a writer at Civic Ventures.
1:40.0	So, Paul, in this episode of Pitchworkfork Economics we're going to talk about automation and jobs and that's a subject that's very much on the minds of lots and lots of people.
1:51.0	Yeah, it's something that is always discussed in the economic sphere and there's always a little bit
	...

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