The last 200 years, we've had an incredible amount of automation. We have tractors that do the work that horses and people used to do on farms. We don't dig ditches by hand anymore. We don't pound tools out of… — David Autor Copy Share Image
If you think about it, many of the great inventions of the last 200 years were designed to replace human labor. Tractors were developed to substitute mechanical power for human physical toil. — David Autor Copy Share Image
The average worker in 2015 wanting to attain the average living standard in 1915 could do so by working just 17 weeks a year,… — David Autor Copy Share Image
I did software development for a while, and I also spent several years directing a nonprofit in San Francisco that did computer education for… — David Autor Copy Share Image
China's rise is really a kind of a world historical event. This is the largest country in the world. It has caused a wholesale… — David Autor Copy Share Image
Computers were programmed to swap out error-prone, inconsistent human calculation with digital perfection. — David Autor Copy Share Image
The end of the 'tech bubble' in the year 2000 is, of course, widely recognized, as the NASDAQ stock index erased three-quarters of its… — David Autor Copy Share Image
The U.S. tends to export high-tech goods because we have strong comparative advantage there, and we tend to import labor-intensive and less skill-intensive goods… — David Autor Copy Share Image
If I lose my job at a furniture factory where I've worked for decades, no amount of cheaper toys and raincoats at Wal-Mart is… — David Autor Copy Share Image
I'm not yet convinced that we will face an unemployment problem created by AI. There will certainly be some occupations eliminated - drivers of… — David Autor Copy Share Image
Work is what structures adults' lives: it gives us purpose, focus, a set of responsibilities, and an identity. So when people are not participating… — David Autor Copy Share Image
Economists have understood since the Victorian era that the main benefits of trade come from comparative advantage: the idea that people can specialize in… — David Autor Copy Share Image
Here's a startling fact: in the 45 years since the introduction of the automated teller machine, those vending machines that dispense cash, the number… — David Autor Copy Share Image
Workers and jobs are naturally heterogeneous, and the quality of their interaction when paired is difficult to forecast. — David Autor Copy Share Image
There's never been a better time to be a worker with special skills or the right education, because these people can use technology to… — David Autor Copy Share Image
There's always new work to do. Adjusting to the rapid pace of technological change creates real challenges, seen most clearly in our polarized labor… — David Autor Copy Share Image
