22 David Autor Quotes for You to Enjoy

David Autor

American Economist

Born: 1967

Being Good Labor People Will Work

Related authors: Alan Greenspan Herbert A. Simon John Kenneth Galbraith Milton Friedman Paul A. Volcker Richard Thaler Robert Reich Thomas Sowell

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 market and the threat that it poses to economic mobility. Rising to this challenge is not automatic. It's not costless. It's not easy. But it is feasible. David Autor

Work Change Challenges Challenge Seen Market Our Adjusting Rapid Easy Threat Feasible Rising Economic Polarized Clearly New Most Always Real Mobility Labor Automatic Pace Creates Technological Poses

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 wrought iron. We don't do bookkeeping with books! But this has not, in net, reduced the amount of employment. David Autor

Economists have understood since the Victorian era that the main benefits of trade come from comparative advantage: the idea that people can specialize in what they're good at and then benefit from exchange. The principle is no more mysterious than specialization in the labor market. David Autor

Good People Benefits Benefit Market More Mysterious Exchange Main Advantage Idea Since Economists Come Principle Trade Understood Era Labor Than Victorian Then Comparative Specialization Specialize

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 that other countries can do more cheaply. David Autor

Strong Other Other Countries More Tend High-Tech Tends Cheaply Advantage Countries Goods Import Because Less Export Comparative

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

Work People Money Wrapped Most Identity Up Just Really

I'm not yet convinced that we will face an unemployment problem created by AI. There will certainly be some occupations eliminated - drivers of vehicles, many production jobs, etc. Whether this creates mass unemployment depends on how quickly this happens. If it happens overnight, it will be a huge disruption. David Autor

Problem AI Will Face Jobs Some Drivers Vehicles Mass Occupations How Overnight Huge Quickly Unemployment Depends Happens Whether Etc Created Creates Convinced Production Certainly Many Eliminated Disruption

People tend to think about trade as if it's competition between companies - if Apple wins, Google loses. But that's false. Trade makes nations better off in general. Now, I want to be clear. I'm not saying that everything about trade is good and beneficial. Trade also has costs. David Autor

Saying Good People Competition Better Google Think Beneficial Everything About General Costs Tend Wins Better Off Clear Between Also Trade Makes Loses False Off Nations Want Companies Now Apple

The average worker in 2015 wanting to attain the average living standard in 1915 could do so by working just 17 weeks a year, one third of the time. But most people don't choose to do that. They are willing to work hard to harvest the technological bounty that is available to them. Material abundance has never eliminated perceived scarcity. David Autor

Work Time People Work Hard Year Living Harvest Willing Scarcity One-Third Perceived Could Attain Weeks Never Abundance Bounty Most Material Just Wanting Available Them Average Worker Working Hard Choose Standard Technological Eliminated Third

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 substantial contraction of U.S. manufacturing employment. David Autor

World Country Kind Rise Employment Caused Historical Contraction Substantial China Really Manufacturing Wholesale Event Largest

Work is what structures adults' lives: it gives us purpose, focus, a set of responsibilities, and an identity. So when people are not participating in the labour market, all sorts of other things often start to go wrong. David Autor

The fact that people are dropping out of the labour force says one of two things: either employers have no use for them, or they have no use for the jobs that are being offered at the wages they can command. David Autor

People Says Out Jobs Fact Dropping Employers Force Wages Command Offered Labour Being Either Them Use Things Two

I did a lot of blue collar work. I also worked as a temp. I did, you know, light construction and cleaning. I did clerical temping. I also fix cars and motorcycles and electronics. David Autor

Work You Cleaning Construction Light Car Collar Know Clerical Also Lot Motorcycles Fix Did Blue Blue-Collar Worked Electronics

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

Economics Head MIT Department Professor Associate

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

Welfare Settings Markets Both Terms Sellers Efficient Maximizing Many Buyers

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

Slice Pie Very Labor Getting Much Growing Shrinking

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

Digital Out Computers Perfection Calculation Were Human Swap Inconsistent Programmed

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

Quality Difficult Jobs Forecast Interaction Workers Naturally

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

Change Changes Jobs Rates Employment Without Lot Huge Being

One would expect that a surge of new automation opportunities in highly paid work would catalyze a surge of corporate investment in computer hardware and software. Instead, the opposite occurred. David Autor

Work Opportunities Automation Software Corporate Would Computer Investment Instead Highly New Occurred Surge Opposite Expect Paid Hardware

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