Power and Progress
Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award, 2023
WINNERS OF THE 2024 NOBEL PRIZE FOR ECONOMICS
LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE
LONGLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES AND SCHRODERS BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR
SHORTLISTED FOR THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE
A FINANCIAL TIMES TECHNOLOGY BOOK OF THE YEAR
‘The blueprint we need for the challenges ahead’ Shoshana Zuboff
‘If you are not already an addict of Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson’s previous books, Power and Progress is guaranteed to make you one’ Jared Diamond
‘A breathtaking tour of the history and future of technology’ Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo
A bold new interpretation of why technology has all too often benefited elites – and how we must reshape the path of innovation to create true shared prosperity.
A thousand years of history and contemporary evidence make one thing clear. Progress is not automatic but depends on the choices we make about technology. New ways of organizing production and communication can either serve the narrow interests of an elite or become the foundation for widespread prosperity.
Much of the wealth generated by agricultural advances during the European Middle Ages was captured by the Church and used to build grand cathedrals while the peasants starved. The first hundred years of industrialization in England delivered stagnant incomes for workers, while making a few people very rich. And throughout the world today, digital technologies and artificial intelligence increase inequality and undermine democracy through excessive automation, massive data collection, and intrusive surveillance.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Power and Progress demonstrates that the path of technology was once – and can again be – brought under control. The tremendous computing advances of the last half century can become empowering and democratizing tools, but not if all major decisions remain in the hands of a few hubristic tech leaders striving to build a society that elevates their own power and prestige.
With their breakthrough economic theory and manifesto for a better society, Acemoglu and Johnson provide the understanding and the vision to reshape how we innovate and who really gains from technological advances so we can create real prosperity for all.
Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences on 14 October 2024.
LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE
LONGLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES AND SCHRODERS BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR
SHORTLISTED FOR THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE
A FINANCIAL TIMES TECHNOLOGY BOOK OF THE YEAR
‘The blueprint we need for the challenges ahead’ Shoshana Zuboff
‘If you are not already an addict of Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson’s previous books, Power and Progress is guaranteed to make you one’ Jared Diamond
‘A breathtaking tour of the history and future of technology’ Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo
A bold new interpretation of why technology has all too often benefited elites – and how we must reshape the path of innovation to create true shared prosperity.
A thousand years of history and contemporary evidence make one thing clear. Progress is not automatic but depends on the choices we make about technology. New ways of organizing production and communication can either serve the narrow interests of an elite or become the foundation for widespread prosperity.
Much of the wealth generated by agricultural advances during the European Middle Ages was captured by the Church and used to build grand cathedrals while the peasants starved. The first hundred years of industrialization in England delivered stagnant incomes for workers, while making a few people very rich. And throughout the world today, digital technologies and artificial intelligence increase inequality and undermine democracy through excessive automation, massive data collection, and intrusive surveillance.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Power and Progress demonstrates that the path of technology was once – and can again be – brought under control. The tremendous computing advances of the last half century can become empowering and democratizing tools, but not if all major decisions remain in the hands of a few hubristic tech leaders striving to build a society that elevates their own power and prestige.
With their breakthrough economic theory and manifesto for a better society, Acemoglu and Johnson provide the understanding and the vision to reshape how we innovate and who really gains from technological advances so we can create real prosperity for all.
Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences on 14 October 2024.
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Reviews
This singular book elevated my understanding of the present confluence of society, economics, and technology. Here we have a synthesis of history and analysis coupled with specific ideas about how the future can be improved. It pulls no punches, but also inspires optimism
A breathtaking tour of the history and future of technology
Power and Progress offers Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson's addictive hallmarks: sparkling writing, and a big question that affects our lives
Power and Progress is the blueprint we need for the challenges ahead: technology only contributes to shared prosperity when it is tamed by democratic rights, values, principles, and the laws that sustain them in our daily lives
Acemoglu and Johnson take aim at economists' mindless enthusiasm for technical change and their crippling neglect of power. An important book that is long overdue
A book you must read: compelling, beautifully written and tightly argued, it addresses a crucially important problem with powerful solutions
The technology of artificial intelligence is moving fast and likely to accelerate. This powerful book shows we now need to make some careful choices, to really share the benefits and reduce unintended adverse consequences. Technology is too important to leave to the billionaires. Everyone everywhere should read Acemoglu and Johnson - and try to get a seat at the decision-making table
A remarkable analysis of the current drama of technology evolution vs human dignity, where the potent forces boosting inequality continue to destroy our belief in the nobility of work and the inevitability of egalitarian progress
Acemoglu and Johnson give an incisive analysis of the economics of labor and technology, along with a trenchant critique of the "techno-optimism" of corporate visionaries . . . a stimulating call for social and political action to ensure the rising tide of innovation lifts all boats
This singular book elevated my understanding of the present confluence of society, economics, and technology. Here we have a synthesis of history and analysis coupled with specific ideas about how the future can be improved. It pulls no punches but also inspires optimism
One powerful thread runs through this breathtaking tour of the history and future of technology, from the Neolithic agricultural revolution to the ascent of artificial intelligence: Technology is not destiny, nothing is pre-ordained . . . In this age of relentless automation and seemingly unstoppable consolidation of power and wealth, Power and Progress is an essential reminder that we can, and must, take back control
A sweeping history of more than a thousand years of technical change . . . An important book that is long overdue
If you are not already an addict of Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson's previous books, Power and Progress is guaranteed to make you one. It offers their addictive hallmarks: sparkling writing and a big question that affects our lives . . . Read, enjoy, and then choose your lifestyle!
Acemoglu and Johnson would like a word with the mighty tech lords before they turn over the entire world economy to artificial intelligence. The lesson of economic history is technological advances such as AI won't automatically lead to broad-based prosperity-they may end up benefiting only a wealthy elite . . . it's a bracing wake-up call for the rest of us
A book you must read: compelling, beautifully written, and tightly argued, it addresses a crucially important problem with powerful solutions
The technology of artificial intelligence is moving fast and likely to accelerate. This powerful book shows we now need to make some careful choices to really share the benefits and reduce unintended, adverse consequences. Technology is too important to leave to the billionaires. Everyone everywhere should read Acemoglu and Johnson - and try to get a seat at the decision-making table
Two of the best economists alive today are taking a closer look at the economics of technological progress in history. Their findings are as surprising as they are disturbing. This beautifully written and richly documented book marks a new beginning in our thinking about the political economy of innovation
Will the AI revolution increase the average worker's productivity while recusing their drudgery, or will it simply create more exploitative and heavily surveilled workplaces run by robotic overlords? That is the right question, and luckily Acemoglu and Johnson have set out to answer it, giving it profound historical context, combing through the economic incentives, and lighting a better path forward
Technology is upending our world - automating jobs, deepening inequality, and creating tools of surveillance and misinformation that threaten democracy. But Acemoglu and Johnson show it doesn't have to be this way. The direction of technology is not, like the direction of the wind, a force of nature beyond human control. It's up to us. This humane and hopeful book shows how we can steer technology to promote the public good. Required reading for everyone who cares about the fate of democracy in a digital age
A remarkable analysis of the current drama of technology evolution versus human dignity . . . Acemoglu and Johnson offer a fresh vision of how this drama unfolds by highlighting human capabilities and social skills. They are deeply informed, masters at synthesis, and passionate about shaping a better future where innovation supports equality
Here, from two of the greatest economists of our time, we have the definitive refutation of the techno-determinist story that has held us back from building a better future for the last four decades. With a bit of luck, we may look back at this as a turning point where we collectively once again took responsibility for defining the world we want technology to empower us to live in together
In this brilliant, sweeping review of technological change past and present, Acemoglu and Johnson mean to grab us by the shoulders and shake us awake before today's winner-take-all technologies impose more violence on global society and the democratic prospect. This vital book is a necessary antidote to the poisonous rhetoric of tech inevitability . . . Power and Progress is the blueprint we need for the challenges ahead
Renowned MIT economists Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson explain in their important and lucid book how the transformation of work could make life even worse for most people, or, possibly, much better - depending on the political and social and technological choices we make starting now . . . With revealing, relevant stories from throughout economic history and sensible ideas for systemic reform, this is an essential guide for this crucial battle in the 'one-thousand-year struggle' between the powerful and everyone else
Faced with fresh upheaval, the authors make a positive case for how societies can maximise the benefits of our powerful new technologies to the advantage of all
A call to arms
Important and absorbing
An important new book
Argues that humankind has thrived whenever it had brought technology under widespread control - and that we can do so again.
Renowned MIT economists Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson explain in their important and lucid book how the transformation of work could make life even worse for most people, or, possibly, much better - depending on the political and social and technological choices we make starting now . . . With revealing, relevant stories from throughout economic history and sensible ideas for systemic reform, this is an essential guide for this crucial battle in the "one-thousand-year struggle" between the powerful and everyone else
Acemoglu and Johnson would like a word with the mighty tech lords
before they turn over the entire world economy to artificial intelligence.
The lesson of economic history is technological advances such as AI
won't automatically lead to broad-based prosperity - they may end up
benefiting only a wealthy elite. Just as the innovations of the Gilded
Age of American industrialization had to be reined in by progressive
politics, so too, in our Coded Age, we need not only trade unions, civil
society, and trustbusters, but also legislative and regulatory reforms to
prevent the advent of a new panopticon of AI-enabled surveillance.
This book will not endear the authors to Microsoft executives, but it's a
bracing wake-up call for the rest of us
Two of the best economists alive today are taking a closer look at the economics of technological progress in history. Their findings are as surprising as they are disturbing. This beautifully written and richly documented book marks a new beginning in our thinking about the political economy of innovation
Decisions on how we manage this tension between risk and opportunity are ultimately political. In their remarkable book Power and Progress, economists Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson provide a compelling framework for thinking this through