Tag: inequality

How trade impacts American jobs: Research roundup

How trade impacts American jobs: Research roundup

Container ship (Photo: Pixabay) Economic dogma asserts that free trade improves everyone’s wellbeing. For decades, both major American political parties have hailed free trade with other countries as critical to voters’ well being. But candidates in the 2016 presidential election have raised piercing questions about the benefits, with both major party nominees distancing themselves from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a pact with bilateral support that was seven-years-in-the-making. The Republican nominee is even proposing to tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA ), a signature policy of the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations.

Rapidly increasing […]

Trump Supporters Are Not the Losers from Globalization

Trump Supporters Are Not the Losers from Globalization

A common narrative we hear from the news media this election cycle is that Donald Trump has become popular by tapping into anti-trade sentiment among blue collar workers “ on the losing side of trade globalization .” The basic premises of this narrative are that (1) trade has harmed a large segment of the U.S. population and (2) those people are voting for Trump. But neither one of those premises is true.

The narrative has been fueled by a paper released earlier this year by economist David Autor, David Dorn, and Gordon Hanson titled “The China Shock: Learning from Labor […]

Dan O’Brien: The hopes and fears around artificial intelligence

Dan O'Brien: The hopes and fears around artificial intelligence

Partly explaining the pessimism is fear of change and the unknown. Another reason is what economists call the “lump of labour fallacy” — the idea that the number of jobs in an economy is fixed, and therefore more automation must in turn mean fewer jobs…’ (Stock picture) ‘Artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race." That is how no less a figure than physicist Stephen Hawking has described the risks posed by intelligent machines capable of thought and action. Medical Coding Programs allalliedhealthschools.com Start Now! Find Medical Billing & Coding Programs. Request Info Today Work at Home […]

[Industry 4.0] How will Industry 4.0 impact jobs?

[Industry 4.0] How will Industry 4.0 impact jobs?

It took a weeklong match in March this year between 18-time world Go champion Lee Se-dol and Alphago for it to hit South Koreans hard: Human beings could actually be replaced by artificial intelligence.

Alphago, the AI Go program developed by Google DeepMind, won four out of five games. The initial anticipation of Lee’s sweeping victory soon turned into self-assuring consolation that he at least managed one win.

“After the match, I was actually fearful of my own arrogant assumption that a man-made AI would never outperform a human,” said Kim Sung-jin, a 33-year-old researcher in material engineering. “When an AI […]

Making disruption work for humans

Making disruption work for humans

Split, shatter, break apart. That is the original Latin meaning of the word disruption. Even today, the word provokes fear.

When my colleagues and I conceptualised this series, Fast Forward: Disruption and the Singapore Economy, of which you are now reading the final instalment, we considered technology-driven job loss to be a big threat. Just before this series was launched, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan spoke of a time, perhaps just 15 years away, when private cars would go the way of horse carriages as driverless vehicles become the norm; and with that change, the prospect that thousands of transport […]

A turning point in labour history

A turning point in labour history

The latest wave of automation heralds new transformations for society, but how can we ensure that nobody is left stranded? "The so-called sharing economy and the new wave of automation are appearing to rewrite the old rules." Cab drivers protest against Uber in Lisbon, 2016. Flickr/Stròlic Furlàn – Davide Gabino Follow. Some rights reserved. Several profound transformations are taking place in the world of labour at the same time. Aspects of a so-called sharing economy and the new wave of automation are appearing to rewrite old rules. The long-term consequences of this turning point depend on the policies adopted […]

Jobs, Robots, and ‘Humans Need Not Apply’

Humans Need Not Apply: A Guide to Wealth and Work in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Jerry Kaplan

Published in August of 2015.

What books are on your Robots bookshelf ?What have you been reading that has helped you make sense of whether automation will degrade or improve our future?How have you been trying to make sense of how higher education should adapt and change to stay relevant in an age of driverless cars, lawyer-less legal services, and professor-less teaching?If you are developing such a library (and I bet that you might be), then I would recommend adding Humans Need […]

Only Humans Need Apply: Job Prospects Following Advances in AI

This post was authored primarily by CDT Summer 2016 intern Elaine Chou . “America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.” Last week, in response to a Request for Information from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, CDT submitted a report on “Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence” (“AI”). Our comments focused on how the government can reduce inequality in the workforce and promote societal progress as AI advances. CDT believes in the power of AI, and suggests policy improvements […]

Income inequality affecting the masses, expected to continue

Income inequality affecting the masses, expected to continue

Income inequality continues to increase, hitting the young with low skills the hardest. In the UK, 60% of the population has seen a stagnation or decrease in their disposable income. In the US, those below 30 with low levels of education are 15% worse off in 2012 than in 2002. Continued low growth, as well as the possible acceleration of automation and digitalisation, is likely to exuberate the situation, with the income of up to 80% of the workforce stagnant or declining to 2025.

Income inequality has become an issue for a range of stakeholders, forming a political flashpoint, […]

US: President’s top economic adviser rejects basic income

US: President’s top economic adviser rejects basic income

Jason Furman, President Obama’s top economics adviser, rejected the idea of a universal basic income in remarks made on Thursday, July 7, at a White House workshop on automation.

The last of four workshops on automation co-hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy was held on Thursday, July 7 at New York University in New York City, New York.

At this workshop , Jason Furman , an economist who has served as Chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers since June 2013, present prepared remarks entitled “ Is This Time Different? The Opportunities and Challenges […]