MIT Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work

On GPS: Is a second ‘China shock’ coming? | CNN The ‘China shock’ at the turn of this century wreaked havoc on US manufacturing and upended the global trade system. Fareed speaks with David Autor, one of the economists who first identified the ‘Chi...

Co-director @davidautor.bsky.social was interviewed on CNN this week about China's rapid advancements in high-tech industries, which he warns could lead to a "China Shock 2.0" for the US.

www.cnn.com/2025/07/27/w...

How will AI impact inequality, in the US and globally? Co-director @simonhrjohnson.bsky.social discusses what the preliminary data suggests.

Global economies whose competitive advantage currently comes from labor-intensive work could have the most to lose.

To predict how AI will impact jobs, co-director @davidautor.bsky.social explains, we need to understand how it changes the expertise required for an occupation.

"It's very possible that AI will change who can do certain types of work."

YouTube video by CNBC International Live MIT's David Autor on the coming China Shock 2.0 and China's 'Darwinian' private sector competition

"China has moved way up the value chain." Co-director @davidautor.bsky.social appeared on @cnbc.com to discuss the threat of a China Shock 2.0 and how the US should respond.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0q-...

YouTube video by Wheeler Institute for Business and Development Remaking Liberalism with Daron Acemoglu

In a lecture last month at London Business School, @dacemoglumit.bsky.social previewed ideas from his forthcoming book on remaking liberalism in an age of inequality, AI, and political polarization.

Recording: www.youtube.com/watch?v=k23S...

Event summary: wheelerblog.london.edu/remaking-lib...

Co-director @davidautor.bsky.social explains findings from his new research with Neil Thompson. Automation (including AI) can make a job more or less "expert," raising or lowering wages, depending on the nature of the tasks it removes and/or creates.

Watch the full clip: youtu.be/1lOOKvufS4w

Opinion | We Warned About the First China Shock. The Next One Will Be Worse.

In @nytimes.com, @davidautor.bsky.social and Gordon Hanson argue that the Trump administration's economic policies are fighting the last war. In the meantime, China is making rapid advancements and threatening US leadership in innovative, high-tech sectors.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/o...

Whose job is safe from AI? Technology can make a boring job even more boring and an interesting job even more interesting

Will AI take over the smartest part of your job, or just the boring bits? A recent FT article highlights @davidautor.bsky.social's recent research on how automation can raise or lower expertise across jobs.

www.ft.com/content/b67b...

Govt 1: Why Are Some Countries Rich and Some Countries Poor? (Institutions) : Planet Money Summer School Government. The Big G. We like to imagine the free market and the invisible hand as being independent from political influence. But Nobel laureate, Simon Johnson, says that influence has been there ...

Why are some countries rich and others poor? How do institutions drive prosperity — or inequality? @simonhrjohnson.bsky.social unpacks these questions and more on this week's @planetmoney.bsky.social episode.

www.npr.org/2026/01/01/1...

YouTube video by Reid Hoffman A Threat Bigger than China | MIT Economist David Autor

"One of the great challenges of our era is to figure out how to create tools, AIs, that support people using their expertise better and learning faster."

Hear more from @davidautor.bsky.social on the Possible podcast with @reidhoffman.bsky.social: youtu.be/MGKUTVyqJlI

AI’s biggest secret: we can shape it Artificial intelligence is poised to transform the world. Tech bros want it to subjugate us—but it doesn’t have to be that way

In @prospectmagazine.co.uk‬, our director @dacemoglumit.bsky.social argues that one key word is missing from the tech industry’s discussion about AGI: choice.

4 key choices could determine how AI will impact society, jobs, democracy, and geopolitics.

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/techno...

The MIT Shaping the Future of Work Initiative is now the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work. Hear from our co-directors @dacemoglumit.bsky.social, @davidautor.bsky.social, and @simonhrjohnson.bsky.social about our mission and goals for the years ahead.

Expertise - Massachusetts Institute of Technology When job tasks are automated, does this augment or diminish the value of labor in the tasks that remain? The authors argue the answer depends…

(4/4) Read the full paper here: shapingwork.mit.edu/research/exp...

#econsky

(3/4) But automation has lowered wages and increased employment in occupations where it eliminated expert tasks, such as dispatchers.

(2/4) Over the past four decades, automation has raised wages and reduced employment in occupations where it eliminated inexpert tasks, such as proofreaders.

(1/4) When some job tasks are automated, do the tasks that remain become more or less valuable? 🧵👇

In a new working paper, @davidautor.bsky.social and Neil Thompson argue the answer depends on how much expertise is required for the tasks still done by humans.

Visions for the future with Daron Acemoglu 5.30pm Wed 18 Jun | Daron Acemoglu | Free event at the LSE Festival: Visions for the Future | Ticket required

This Wednesday, June 18 at 5:30 PM BST (12:30 PM EDT), co-director @dacemoglumit.bsky.social will deliver a public lecture at the #LSEFestival: Visions for the Future, exploring how we can reimagine and revitalize liberal democracy. Register to watch online: www.lse.ac.uk/Events/LSE-F...

Assessing the Real Impact of Automation on Jobs | Stanford HAI MIT economist David Autor argues that focusing on exposure alone misses the nuances of how experts and nonexperts experience task shifts.

A recent article from @stanfordhai.bsky.social highlights insights from co-director @davidautor.bsky.social on how automation affects jobs — and why focusing solely on a job's exposure to automation misses the point.

hai.stanford.edu/news/assessi...

We asked co-director @davidautor.bsky.social if he thinks US tariffs and trade policy signal the end of the globalization era.

He explains: "I don't think globalization is over, but I think the US leadership of globalization may be over."

David Autor on the Labor Market - Social Science Space When economic news, especially that revolving around working, gets reported, it tends to get reported in aggregate – the total number of […]

"You shouldn’t think that technology is either good or bad. You need to think about it in relation to the value of your expertise. Does it commodify it... or does it make it more valuable?"
Hear more from co-director @davidautor.bsky.social on @sagepub.com: www.socialsciencespace.com/2025/06/davi...

Visions for the future with Daron Acemoglu 5.30pm Wed 18 Jun | Daron Acemoglu | Free event at the LSE Festival: Visions for the Future | Ticket required

Dear followers, I will be giving a talk at the LSE Festival on June 18 at 5:30 BST. You can register to join online here. www.lse.ac.uk/Events/LSE-F...

"Our concern is that AI, which is made possible by our institutions, is pulled in a direction that undermines democracy."

Read insights from co-director @simonhrjohnson.bsky.social in the IMF Finance & Development Magazine: www.imf.org/en/Publicati...

David Autor smiling with the Social Science Bites logo on the bottom

“I feel like if we use AI well, it's actually complementary to the knowledge that many people have.”

Economist @davidautor.bsky.social ‪of @mitshapingwork.bsky.social discusses changes to the labor market on a new Social Science Bites episode.

Listen now: www.socialsciencespace.com/2025/06/davi...

Nobel Laureate Busts the AI Hype In this brief video, economist Daron Acemoglu challenges the AI hype with data-driven predictions and business advice.

In this video from @mitsmr.bsky.social , co-director @dacemoglumit.bsky.social advises business leaders not to get taken in by AI hype, but to leverage technology "to create better and newer goods and services ... not just cutting costs, but doing new things."

sloanreview.mit.edu/video/nobel-...

Co-director @simonhrjohnson.bsky.social explains why the US auto industry had such a massive increase in productivity in the early 20th century — and how workers were able to benefit, despite widespread automation.

Co-director @dacemoglumit.bsky.social explains why the centralized nature of the social media ecosystem, which puts an enormous amount of power in the hands of a few platforms, is a threat to democracy — and why AI may be headed in the same direction.

Old jobs, new jobs: How the labor landscape has changed two decades after trade with China opened | Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Employment levels recovered in the most affected U.S. labor markets, but the composition of the labor force has changed

The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis highlighted research from @davidautor.bsky.social and co-authors on the US labor market impacts of the China trade shock, 20 years later. #EconSky

www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2025...

MIT Department of Economics to launch James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work The MIT Economics department will launch the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work, led by Daron Acemoglu and co-directors David Autor and Simon Johnson, t...

📣 We will soon become the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work!

Starting in July, we will usher in a significant new era of research, policy, and education, made possible by a gift from the Stone Foundation.

news.mit.edu/2025/mit-eco...

Co-director @davidautor.bsky.social explains key findings from his recent NBER working paper, co-authored with our research affiliate @profdaviddorn.bsky.social, Gordon Hanson, Maggie Jones, and Bradley Setzler.

Read the paper: shapingwork.mit.edu/research/pla...

#EconSky

Co-director @simonhrjohnson.bsky.social argues that Trump’s tariffs don’t mean the end of globalization, but rather a remaking of it.

The flows of ideas, trade, finance, and people will be reorganized, with significant consequences for who wins and loses around the world — and who has good jobs.