Aaron Essamoglu of MIT is an economist and author. His new book, Power and Progress talks about the relationship between technology and prosperity. He says we are extremely fortunate from a historical sweep because of technological breakthroughs that started sometime around the middle of the 18th century. But he argues there is nothing automatic about technological progress bringing wide spread prosperity.
Economist and author Daron Acemoglu of MIT discusses his book Power and Progress with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Acemoglu argues that the productivity and prosperity that results from innovation is not always shared widely across the population. He makes the case for the importance of regulating new technologies to ensure that the benefits of innovation are distributed equitably.