The book presents the research work of two Nobel Prize winners in Economics awarded in 2024. It takes the form of a monumental review of scientific literature on the factors, forms, and combined effects of technological innovation and institutional change throughout the ages. It focuses in particular on the interactions between the digital revolution and the globalization of the markets since the 1980s.
The book begins with a discussion around the notions of progress, which is at the same time technical, institutional, as well as ideological. It continues with a review of the debates on the mechanization of agriculture and then of industrial processes, leading to several waves of “technological unemployment”. The two authors compare in particular the sometimes contradictory positions adopted by the greatest economists on these phenomena, which resulted in a concentration of wealth and a widening of inequalities between labor and capital. They show in particular that these technological and socio-economic changes have been favored by institutions and ideologies, first Keynesian and then neo-liberal, which have been increasingly adapted to social groups the power of which is based more on capital than on labor. They analyze in particular the decline of unions and political parties influence in the fight against social inequalities.
The two Nobel Prize winners also observe that AI, especially in its generative form, generates low productivity gains, but stimulates creativity in all its forms and develops human relationships, which are both sources of economic growth and social well-being. They argue that humanity should seek to improve the usefulness of machines rather than perceive only their dangers. They deplore in particular the use of AI to misinform and manipulate opinion. They denounce the current trend of considering AI as being at the service of a society of surveillance and control of citizens in the name of an ideology. They compare the ethical frameworks established by different countries and propose a new form of global AI governance promoting both technological innovation and the common good.
One of the main interests of the book is therefore to present in a didactic form the main Anglo-Saxon research devoted to the evolution of the relationship between technical progress and the institutions of Western countries, but also to contribute to the current thought leadership on the supervision of AI.
Daron Acimoglu and Simon Johnson are professors at the MIT and co-winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics.
Note by J-J.Pluchart
