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New York Times opinion writer Peter Coy spotlights the MIT Shaping the Future of Work Initiative, a new effort aimed at analyzing the forces that are eroding job quality for non-college workers and identifying ways to move the economy onto a more equitable trajectory. Nothing is “inexorable,” said Prof. Daron Acemoglu during the project’s kickoff event. “The answer in most cases is, AI will do whatever we choose it to do.”
The Economist spotlights new research by Prof. Ivan Werning suggesting a refined economic model to address the post-pandemic economy. Werning’s model adjusts “not just to a shift in demand from services to goods, but to supply-chain disruption, energy shocks and employees in some sectors working from home,” explains The Economist. “As such, inflation moved through the economy in waves, starting in select goods then spreading out.”
Writing for Wired, Institute Prof. Daron Acemoglu predicts that expectations for generative AI will need to recalibrated during the year ahead. Acemoglu notes that he believes in 2024, “generative AI will have been adopted by many companies, but it will prove to be just ‘so-so automation’ of the type that displaces workers but fails to deliver huge productivity improvements.”
Prof. David Autor speaks with Bloomberg about the future of generative AI and the technology’s potential impact on productivity and the labor market. “When we interact with AI, we need to learn how to treat it not as authoritative, but as a guide to support decision making, and that’s really critical,” says Autor.
The Economist spotlights the life of Prof. Emeritus Robert M. Solow, a Nobel laureate whose work in growth theory “added both to national spending and the economy’s productive capacity.” The Economist notes that: “the MIT culture he embodied disdained hierarchy, cherished collegial lunches and made time for students, many of whom became illustrious friends.”
A new analysis from MIT researchers has found that preventative screenings such as a colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy can reduce cancer rates more than previous analyses suggested, reports Ernie Mundell for HealthDay. “Prior colon cancer screening studies found that regular colonoscopy/sigmoidoscopy reduced that rate by 25% -- to 0.75%,” explains Mundell. “But the new analysis took into account the number of participants in a colon cancer screening trial who decided, for whatever reason, to skip screening. When these "non-adherent" folks were eliminated from statistical calculations, the actual percentage of people who went on to develop colon cancer over a 10-year span fell to just 0.5%.”
Prof. Emeritus Robert M. Solow, recipient of the 1987 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in economic growth theory, has died at age 99, reports Austen Hufford for Wall Street Journal. “Heinstilled in the field of economics a focus on turning complex issues into simple formulas, allowing even freshman in college to grasp and debate important topics,” writes Hufford.
Prof. Jonathan Gruber speaks with Boston Public Radio hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan to explain the US deficit and its impact on the economy. Gruber says “there are four options to lowering the deficit. The first is to get inflation under control. Second is to ensure a stable and responsible government. Third, is to decrease spending. And the fourth option is to raise taxes.”
Prof. Emeritus Robert M. Solow, winner of the 1987 Nobel Prize in Economics “for exploring the impact of technology on economic growth, work that spawned a wider understanding of what drives the expansion of industrial economics,” has died age 99, reports Edward Cowan for The Washington Post. “The strong role of technological progress identified by Dr. Solow contributed to a greater emphasis by governments on higher education and technological research,” writes Cowan.
Prof. Emeritus Robert M. Solow, a recipient of the 1987 Nobel Economics Prize who created a theoretical framework for growth theory – the branch of economics “which studies those factors that allow for increased production and improvements in economic welfare” – has died at age 99, reports Mike Feeney for The Boston Globe. “Dr. Solow was as celebrated among economists for who he was as for what he did,” writes Feeney. “His public-spiritedness, lucid writing, and sparkling, often self-deprecating wit made him a much-loved figure.”
Prof. Emeritus Robert M. Solow, a Nobel laureate whose work on economic growth became the model by which economists “came to practice their craft,” has died at age 99, reports Robert D. Hershey Jr., for The New York Times. Solow’s “work demonstrated the power of bringing mathematics to bear on important economic debates and simplifying the analysis by focusing on a small number of variables at a time,” writes Hershey.
Prof. Iván Werning speaks with NPR Planet Money hosts Amanda Aronczyk and Erika Beras about the dollarization of Argentina – an effort being made to address issues within their economy. “One of the big problems of dollarizing is you basically lose the capacity to influence the economy,” says Werning. “So we all hear about the fed in the U.S. lowering rates or raising rates to try and control to minimize recessions. When you dollarize, you give that capacity up.”
Writing for The Hill, Prof. Caitlin Talmadge and Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institute make the case that America’s aims for the war in Ukraine should not be “strategic defeat” of Russia. “The goals, rather, should be stability in Europe and the sustainability of a strong Ukraine, both of which are best served by ending the war sooner rather than later,” they write.
Prof. Jonathan Gruber speaks with GBH reporter Hannah Loss about whether buying or renting a home is a better financial move. “I’m not saying people shouldn’t buy homes,” says Gruber. “I’m just saying that they should do it as a rational economic calculation. They should account for their propensity to save and whether they can handle the uncertainty of homeownership. They shouldn’t do it because their parents said it was a good idea.”
Prof. Daron Acemoglu speaks with CNBC about the potential impact of AI in the workplace. “I think the incentive in the industry… especially with the idea that you have to dominate the market by becoming the largest players, I think those are not helping because those are making us rush down the easiest road, the lowest resistance path, which is often automation,” says Acemoglu. “I don’t think that is going to get us the kind of aspirations that are articulated where we can make blue collar workers, electricians, nurses, teachers much more capable because we have given them tools to be better workers and to make much higher quality services.”