124. Daron Acemoglu on Economics, Politics, and Power

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 Inves…