Books and authors

Prof. Simon Johnson speaks with Reuters reporter Mark John about the impact of AI on the economy. “AI has got a lot of potential – but potential to go either way,” says Johnson. “We are at a fork in the road.”

Forbes reporter John C. Goodman spotlights “We’ve Got You Covered,” a new book co-authored by Prof. Amy Finkelstein and Stanford economist Liran Einav, which explores the idea of offering universal health insurance coverage with no increase in government spending. “An important argument made by Finkelstein and Einav is that Americans are paying about twice as much as we really need to pay for medically necessary health care,” writes Goodman. “So, if we gave the government’s share to people directly, they would be able to buy essential coverage with that money alone." 

The Boston Globe spotlights a new book from the MIT Press called “More Voices from the Radium Age,” a collection that shines a spotlight on obscure proto-science fiction stories and novels. “I’ve spent the past few years, on behalf of the MIT Press, working to rescue neglected ‘proto-science fiction’ novels and stories – first published during the genre’s nascent 1900 – 1935 era – from obscurity,” explains Joshua Glenn, who edited and produced the book.

Prof. Amy Finkelstein speaks with Marketplace’s David Brancaccio about her new book “We’ve Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care,” which outlines a way to rethink health care in the U.S. “What every other high-income country does is have universal basic coverage with the ability to buy additional supplemental coverage for people who can afford and want more than that basic coverage,” explains Finkelstein. “And that’s what we need to do.”

Forbes reporter Marco Annunziata spotlights Prof. Amy Finkelstein’s new book, “We’ve Got You Covered.” Annunziata writes that “the book underscores the stunning absence of a health care budget," adding that the authors "do a great job at highlighting how the current setup poses no limit to expenditures and encourages doctors and providers to run up larger bills.”

Financial Times reporter Andrew Hill spotlights Prof. Zeynep Ton’s new book “The Case for Good Jobs,” which presents “a tough, evidence-backed approach to improving what is often unhelpfully classed as ‘unskilled’ work.” Hill notes that: “Ton’s recipe has four ingredients: focus and simplify, standardize and empower, cross-train staff and ‘operate with slack’, which allows employees greater autonomy and gives them time to solve problems and come up with new ideas themselves.”

Financial Times reporter Andrew Hill highlights Prof. Zeynep Ton’s new book “The Case for Good Jobs: How Great Companies Bring Dignity, Pay, and Meaning to Everyone’s Work” in a roundup of his best books of the year thus far. “Ton has assembled a hard-to-dispute argument that better and better-paid jobs contribute to a virtuous circle of greater competitiveness, productivity and, above all, worker dignity and wellbeing,” writes Hill.

“Power and Progress,” a new book by Institute Prof. Daron Acemoglu and Prof. Simon Johnson, has been named one of the best new books on economics by the Financial Times. “The authors’ nuanced take on technological development provides insights on how we can ensure the coming AI revolution leads to widespread benefits for the many, not just the tech bros,” writes Tej Parikh.

Writing for The New York Times, Institute Prof. Daron Acemoglu and Prof Simon Johnson make the case that “rather than machine intelligence, what we need is ‘machine usefulness,’ which emphasizes the ability of computers to augment human capabilities. This would be a much more fruitful direction for increasing productivity. By empowering workers and reinforcing human decision making in the production process, it also would strengthen social forces that can stand up to big tech companies.”

Boston Globe reporter Kara Miller spotlights Prof. Zeynep Ton’s work advocating for better treatment and pay for workers. Ton, who originally came to the Boston area to study supply chains, recently published a new book, “The Case for Good Jobs,” and is “on a mission to change how company leaders think, and how they treat their employees,” writes Baskin. “To Ton, the solution is clear: Treat people better, give them more control over their lives, close the income divide. It’s just good business.”

Prof. Daron Acemoglu speaks with VOX Talks host Tim Phillips about his new book written with Prof. Simon Johnson, “Power and Progress.” The book explores “how we can redirect the path of innovation,” Phillips explains.

Knight Science Journalism Director Deborah Blum writes for The New York Times about Melissa L. Sevigny’s new book “Brave The Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon.” Blum writes: “Unlike those old-time newspaper reporters, Sevigny does not look at her subjects and see women out of place. She sees women doing their job and doing it well.”

Bloomberg reporter Adrian Wooldridge spotlights a new book titled “Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity” by Prof. Simon Johnson and Prof. Daron Acemoglu. “The authors’ main worry about AI is not that it will do something unexpected like blowing up the world,” writes Wooldridge. “It is that it will supercharge the current regime of surveillance, labor substitution and emotional manipulation.”

Institute Prof. Daron Acemoglu discusses AI and the labor market, the history of technological progress and Turkey with Financial Times columnist Rana Foroohar. “I think the skills of a carpenter or a gardener or an electrician or a writer, those are just the greatest achievements of humanity, and I think we should try to elevate those skills and elevate those contributions,” says Acemoglu. “Technology could do that, but that means to use technology not to replace these people, not to automate those tasks, but to increase their productivity.” 

Prof. Daron Acemoglu speaks with Wired reporters Gideon Lichfield and Lauren Goode about his new book with Prof. Simon Johnson, “Power and Progress.” Acemoglu explains that: “The way I would put it is, don't think of your labor as a cost to be cut. Think of your labor as a human resource to be used better, and AI would be an amazing tool for it. Use AI to allow workers to make better decisions.”