Lex Fridman Podcast

Paul Krugman: Economics of Innovation, Automation, Safety Nets & Universal Basic Income

Jan 21, 2020

Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and CUNY professor, dives into fascinating topics surrounding economics and society. He discusses the balance of market forces and safety nets in achieving an ideal economy, critiques the oversimplified view of automation as the sole culprit for economic woes, and champions the necessity of universal basic income. The conversation also ventures into innovative economic models for future societies, like those on Mars, and highlights the complexities of international trade, especially in the context of U.S.-China relations.

01:03:39

Creator website

Episode guests

Paul Krugman

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Intro

3min

Exploring an Ideal Economy

19min

Technology, Jobs, and Economic Realities

21min

Economic Theories and Innovations

10min

Governance and Economics for a Martian Society

3min

Navigating International Trade

5min

Navigating Intellectual Discourse in a Divisive Age

3min

Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize winner in economics, professor at CUNY, and columnist at the New York Times. His academic work centers around international economics, economic geography, liquidity traps, and currency crises.

This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/ai or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or support it on Patreon.

This episode is presented by Cash App. Download it (App Store, Google Play), use code “LexPodcast”.

Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.

00:00 – Introduction
03:44 – Utopia from an economics perspective
04:51 – Competition
06:33 – Well-informed citizen
07:52 – Disagreements in economics
09:57 – Metrics of outcomes
13:00 – Safety nets
15:54 – Invisible hand of the market
21:43 – Regulation of tech sector
22:48 – Automation
25:51 – Metric of productivity
30:35 – Interaction of the economy and politics
33:48 – Universal basic income
36:40 – Divisiveness of political discourse
42:53 – Economic theories
52:25 – Starting a system on Mars from scratch
55:11 – International trade
59:08 – Writing in a time of radicalization and Twitter mobs

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