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David Autor

(1966) Economist

45 quotes in 166 categories

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David Autor is an economist.

Quick Facts About David Autor

Born: November 30, 1966
Profession: Economist

About David Autor

[Wikidata] American economist (1967-)... | [Wikipedia] David H. Autor is an American economist, public policy scholar, and professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he also acts as co-director of the School Effectiveness and Inequality Initiative. Although Autor has contributed to a variety of fields in economics h

Quotes by David Autor

Workers are basically supervisors of machines.

Basically

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Trade may raise GDP. But it does make some people worse off.

Make

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There was a great sag in employment beginning in 2000.

Beginning

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I think we labor economists like to think of ourselves as being closer to the people.

Being

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I'm a professor of economics and associate head of the MIT Department of Economics.

Economics

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The end of the 'tech bubble' in the year 2000 is, of course, widely recognized, as the NASDAQ stock index erased three-quarters…

Between

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Workers and jobs are naturally heterogeneous, and the quality of their interaction when paired is difficult to forecast.

Difficult

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I work a lot on skill demands and changes in labor markets having to do with technology and with trade as well.

Change

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Tax reform done right will improve incentives to invest in U.S. production and to repatriate profits.

Done

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If I lose my job at a furniture factory where I've worked for decades, no amount of cheaper toys and raincoats at…

Again

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There's never been a better time to be a worker with special skills or the right education, because these people can use…

Education

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Computers were programmed to swap out error-prone, inconsistent human calculation with digital perfection.

Computers

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The Internet promises to open new channels for worker-firm communications. What are the consequences of this opening?

Communication

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The average worker in 2015 wanting to attain the average living standard in 1915 could do so by working just 17 weeks…

Hard

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Manufacturing value chains are global. Many U.S.-made goods have foreign components. Slapping on tariffs will raise prices and slow imports, but it…

Growth

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In 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded and crashed down to Earth less than two minutes after takeoff. The cause of that…

Crashed

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Work is what structures adults' lives: it gives us purpose, focus, a set of responsibilities, and an identity. So when people are…

Adults

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I did software development for a while, and I also spent several years directing a nonprofit in San Francisco that did computer…

Development

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There's a reason I write articles and go out for good dinners: because I'm better at research than cooking. And there are…

Better

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I'm not yet convinced that we will face an unemployment problem created by AI. There will certainly be some occupations eliminated -…

AI

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China's rise is really a kind of a world historical event. This is the largest country in the world. It has caused…

China

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I had never taken any economics. I literally didn't know what it was. I thought it was just about the study of…

Economics

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Markets are, in many settings, self-organizing and 'efficient' in terms of maximizing the welfare of both buyers and sellers.

Both

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We have too few college graduates. We also have too few people who are prepared for college.

College

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I did a lot of blue collar work. I also worked as a temp. I did, you know, light construction and cleaning.…

Blue

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One would expect that a surge of new automation opportunities in highly paid work would catalyze a surge of corporate investment in…

Automation

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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…

Advantage

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Here's a startling fact: in the 45 years since the introduction of the automated teller machine, those vending machines that dispense cash,…

Bank

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There's always new work to do. Adjusting to the rapid pace of technological change creates real challenges, seen most clearly in our…

Challenges

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The last 200 years, we've had an incredible amount of automation. We have tractors that do the work that horses and people…

Automation

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Economists have understood since the Victorian era that the main benefits of trade come from comparative advantage: the idea that people can…

Advantage

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People tend to think about trade as if it's competition between companies - if Apple wins, Google loses. But that's false. Trade…

Apple

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Work is really wrapped up with identity. Work is not just money for most people.

Identity

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History has suggested that the pessimists have been wrong time and time again.

Again

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More than any other issue, economists have kind of been boosters for trade.

Economics

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There is no question we are in an era of people asking, 'Is the Robocalypse upon us?

Asking

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Jobs can change a lot without there being huge changes in employment rates.

Being

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Labor is getting a shrinking slice of a pie that's not growing very much.

Growing

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While I can't tell you what people are going to do for work 100 years from now, the future doesn't hinge on…

100 years

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If you think about it, many of the great inventions of the last 200 years were designed to replace human labor. Tractors…

Great

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David Autor by topic

Work (12) People (10)