Economist Daron Acemoglu likes to tackle big questions. He tells Steve how colonialism still affects us today, who benefits from new technology, and why democracy wasn’t always a sure thing.

• SOURCE:
  • Daron Acemoglu, professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

• RESOURCES:
  • Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson (2023).
  • "Economists Pin More Blame on Tech for Rising Inequality," by Steve Lohr (The New York Times, 2022).
  • "America’s Slow-Motion Wage Crisis: Four Decades of Slow and Unequal Growth," by John Schmitt, Elise Gould, and Josh Bivens (Economic Policy Institute, 2018).
  • "Why Mental Health Advocates Use the Words 'Died by Suicide,'" by Nicole Spector (NBC News, 2018).
  • "A Machine That Made Stockings Helped Kick Off the Industrial Revolution," by Sarah Laskow (Atlas Obscura, 2017).
  • "The Long-Term Jobs Killer Is Not China. It’s Automation," by Claire Cain Miller (The New York Times, 2016).
  • Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson (2012).
  • "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation," by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson (American Economic Review, 2001).
  • "Learning about Others' Actions and the Investment Accelerator," by Daron Acemoglu (The Economic Journal, 1993).
  • "A Friedman Doctrine — The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits," by Milton Friedman (The New York Times, 1970).

• EXTRAS:
  • "'My God, This Is a Transformative Power,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
  • "New Technologies Always Scare Us. Is A.I. Any Different?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
  • "Max Tegmark on Why Superhuman Artificial Intelligence Won’t be Our Slave," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
  • "How to Prevent Another Great Depression," by Freakonomics Radio (2020).
  • "Is Income Inequality Inevitable?" by Freakonomics Radio (2017).