MIT Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work

Dear followers, please see the thread below on the 2026 International AI Safety Report, which was released last week and which I advised.

internationalaisafetyreport.org/publication/...

We partnered with @schmidtsciences.bsky.social to help select grantees who are conducting conducting innovative field experiments on the labor economics of frontier AI, one of multiple calls for proposals under the AI at Work program.

Read about the projects: www.schmidtsciences.org/schmidt-scie...

YouTube video by MIT Stone Center on Inequality & Shaping Work Why Wealth Inequality Matters: A Symposium

Miss our symposium on Why Wealth Inequality Matters this week? Watch a full recording of the event. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSeL...

📅 Don't miss our symposium exploring Why Wealth Inequality Matters on Tuesday, January 27 from 1-5 PM EST.

Register to join us in person at MIT or watch the livestream: shapingwork.mit.edu/events/why-w...

What are the structural differences between income & wealth inequality? How has history shaped the racial wealth gap in the US?

Hear from Ellora Derenoncourt, Alexandra Killewald & Wojciech Kopczuk on these questions and more at our symposium next week.
Register: shapingwork.mit.edu/events/why-w...

In what ways does wealth inequality matter? How is inequality related to political power? What is its impact on modern social systems?

Hear from @landemore.bsky.social, Oren Cass & Elizabeth Anderson on these questions at our symposium next week.

Register: shapingwork.mit.edu/events/why-w...

What role does inequality play in global authoritarian regimes today? How is inequality related to democratic backsliding?

Hear from @dacemoglumit.bsky.social, Sheri Berman, and David Yang on these questions at our upcoming symposium.

Register: shapingwork.mit.edu/events/why-w...

Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work Launches at MIT A launch event for the new Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work at MIT featured discussions on pro-worker AI, wealth inequality, and the future of liberal democracy.

Read a recap of the launch of the Stone Center in MIT News.

The event "[brought] together scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to explore critical questions about economic opportunity, technology, and democracy."

news.mit.edu/2026/stone-c...

Join us on 1/27 for a symposium on "Why Wealth Inequality Matters," with panel discussions including:

➡️ The Political Philosophy of Wealth Inequality
➡️ Wealth Inequality in the US
➡️ Authoritarianism & Wealth Inequality

See the agenda & register: shapingwork.mit.edu/events/why-w...

YouTube video by MIT Stone Center on Inequality & Shaping Work Pro-Worker AI: What Is It, and How Do We Do It?

(6/) Watch a recording of the panel: youtu.be/14CYkxY37Bs

(5/) But @dacemoglumit.bsky.social stressed that the business models of tech companies & the focus on AGI are misaligned with pro-worker AI.

@emollick.bsky.social noted that AI labs are explicitly trying to replace people and are "absolutely convinced that they can do this in the very near term."

(4/) 🤝 Augmentation, not automation, is key to pro-worker AI

Co-director @dacemoglumit.bsky.social argued that expanding what humans can do, rather than automating their tasks, is essential for achieving pro-worker AI.

(3/) 📈 Workers are capturing productivity gains through "shirking" – and companies don't know how to respond

@emollick.bsky.social reported that nearly 50% of workers are using AI at work to increase productivity. These gains are staying with the workers, not benefitting companies.

(2/) 🤔 Humans over-rely on AI, leading to worse performance than AI alone

@zbucinca.bsky.social argued that AI systems must be designed for human complementarity — compelling people to engage critically with AI support rather than blindly accepting its suggestions.

(1/) The final panel at the Stone Center launch event last month centered around pro-worker AI: what it is, and how to achieve it. Key takeaways from the panelists below 🧵👇

YouTube video by MIT Stone Center on Inequality & Shaping Work Reinventing Liberalism in a Populist Era

(6/) Watch a recording of the panel: youtu.be/WEmmIk_2Wdo

(5/) 💡 Liberalism needs to adapt while keeping its core values

The panelists agreed that liberalism's challenge today is maintaining its core commitments to limiting authoritarian power and protecting fundamental freedoms, while addressing contemporary failures.

(4/) 🏛️ Liberalism and democracy haven't always been allies

Helena Rosenblatt noted that historically, "liberalism was really invented to contain democracy."

"Civil equality was very important, but not political equality," she argued. "Liberals were very wary of the masses."

(3/) ⛔ Too much red tape has hindered government's ability to provide basic public goods

Marc Dunkelman argued that government's inability to build new infrastructure, like housing and high-speed rail, pushes "ordinary people who want government to work into the populist camp."

(2/) 📉 Populist anger often reflects real economic failures

Josh Cohen stressed that liberalism must deliver shared prosperity and opportunity, not just protect individual freedoms.

When people lack economic security, they may turn to leaders who abandon liberal principles.

(1/) The second panel at the Stone Center launch event last month explored how liberalism can reinvent itself in an era of increasing populism and authoritarianism. Key takeaways from the panelists below 🧵👇

📅 Join us on Tuesday, January 27 from 1-5 PM EST for a symposium on wealth inequality – its origins and political philosophy, its national and global contexts, and its connections to authoritarianism.

See the agenda and register: shapingwork.mit.edu/events/why-w...

Choose the human path for AI | MIT Sloan To realize the greatest gains from artificial intelligence, we must make the future of work more human, not less.

A new op-ed from Richard Locke, Dean of MIT Sloan, highlights research from our co-directors @dacemoglumit.bsky.social, @simonhrjohnson.bsky.social , and @davidautor.bsky.social and our affiliate @sendhil.bsky.social on choosing a pro-human path for AI.

mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-t...

Beyond Job Displacement: How AI Could Reshape the Value of Human Expertise — Digitalist Papers Many observers fear that the pursuit of transformative AI or artificial general intelligence (AGI) presents a challenge to the existing global order. Their worry is that the US and China, the two glob...

In The Digitalist Papers, @davidautor.bsky.social and Neil Thompson envision potential scenarios for how AI will transform work.

“Automation’s impacts on both employment and wages depend not only on how many tasks are automated, but which," they write.

www.digitalistpapers.com/vol2/autorth...

"Under [Trump's] second administration, income and wealth gaps have only widened – and his policies are likely to further widen the gap."

Read more from co-director @simonhrjohnson.bsky.social and co-authors in @voxeu.org.

cepr.org/voxeu/column...

YouTube video by MIT Stone Center on Inequality & Shaping Work Wealth Inequality: Causes and Consequences

(6/) Watch a recording of the panel: youtu.be/vMfJ-_Z2j0A

(5/) 🏛️ Tax code reforms could mitigate the negative consequences of wealth inequality, including:

👉 Rolling back the 20% deduction for private business owners

👉 Increasing taxes on wealth

👉 Removing the income tax loophole for private equity

(4/) 💵 High inequality is worsening the US debt crisis

@atifrmian.bsky.social explained how massive savings at the top of the wealth distribution have not been channeled into more investment, but rather into unproductive debt, exacerbating the fiscal debt crisis.

(3/) 🏠 Mortgage subsidy policies have actually exacerbated wealth inequality

Antoinette Schoar emphasized that US policy post-2008 actually benefitted the middle to upper-middle class, while disadvantaging younger and poorer potential homeowners with lower credit scores.

(2/) 💰 The top 1% isn’t just tech billionaires

@omzidar.bsky.social stressed that owners of businesses like car dealerships, construction firms, and franchises make up a significant portion of the top 1%.