Prof. M. Taylor Fravel speaks with Guardian reporter Tom Phillips about how the U.S. decision to conduct missile strikes in Syria during a visit by China’s president could impact relations between the two countries. “China will be upset that strikes occurred in the middle of Xi’s first meeting with Trump,” Fravel explains.
A new paper co-authored by Prof. Daron Acemoglu examines the impact of automation on the U.S. job market, according to The Economist. The researchers found that “between 1990 and 2007, each industrial robot added per thousand workers reduced employment in America by nearly six workers.”
Prof. Vipin Narang speaks with New York Times reporter Max Fisher about a potential shift in India’s nuclear weapons doctrine to allow for pre-emptive nuclear strikes. “There is increasing evidence that India will not allow Pakistan to go first,” Narang told a gathering of international government officials and policy experts in Washington D.C.
A study co-written by Prof. Daron Acemoglu examines the impact of autonomous robots on local labor markets, writes Gillian White for The Atlantic. “While the findings might seem grim for workers, the authors note that just because an industry can automate doesn’t mean that it will,” concludes White.
A report from MIT’s Center for International Studies and CSAIL encourages the government to increase cybersecurity systems guarding the nation’s infrastructure, reports Jordan Graham for the Boston Herald. One suggestion from the report is to “establish incentives for owners and operators of private infrastructure who boost security,” explains Graham.
Claire Cain Miller writes for The New York Times about a study by Prof. Daron Acemoglu that shows how robots are impacting the American job market. “The conclusion is that even if overall employment and wages recover, there will be losers in the process, and it’s going to take a very long time for these communities to recover,” says Acemoglu.
James Brenner, the former NSA Inspector General and a research fellow at MIT, speaks with Meghna Chakrabarti of Radio Boston about a new report by MIT researchers that examines potential cyber security vulnerabilities in American infrastructure. Brenner explains that the report aims to “shine a light on what the underlying problems are both technological, commercial and political.”
Timothy Revell writes for New Scientist about a new report by MIT researchers that calls for securing critical U.S. infrastructure against cyberattacks. Joel Brenner, former NSA inspector general and a research fellow at the MIT Center for International Studies, explains that “we know how to fix the vulnerabilities, but there’s no market incentive for companies to do so.”
CNN reporter Selena Larson writes that MIT researchers have released a new report calling for an overhaul of the nation’s cybersecurity for critical infrastructure, like the electric grid. “For infrastructure to be protected against cyberattacks, companies and the government have to collaborate,” Larson explains. She adds that the report suggests, “incentivizing companies to mandate security upgrades.
A study co-authored by Prof. Daron Acemoglu finds that every new robot added to American factories reduced employment in the surrounding areas, reports Cora Lewis for CNBC. According to the study, the areas experiencing major decline were “routine manual occupations, blue-collar workers, operators and assembly workers, and machinists and transport workers.”
Prof. Adam Berinsky writes for The Washington Post about his research investigating how to counter political rumors. “Just as important as how a rumor is debunked is who does the debunking,” he writes. “Politicians who support good public policy by speaking against their partisan interests…are considered credible sources by citizens from across the ideological spectrum.”
A study by MIT researchers finds that robots have negatively impacted American employment and wages, reports Andrew Soergel for U.S. News & World Report. After accounting for enhancements in productivity and growth in other sectors, researchers found that “automation's rise isn't entirely a bad thing for the labor market,” explains Soergel.
In an article for The Washington Post, Prof. David Singer examines how an overhaul of the H-1B visa program could impact the American job market. Singer writes that “restricting visas for highly skilled foreign workers could prompt high-tech firms in the United States to shift operations overseas in search of skilled labor.”
In an article for The New York Times about why people believe false information, Amanda Taub and Brendan Nyhan highlight a study by Prof. Adam Berinsky that examines political myths. Berinsky found that “a surprising co-partisan source (a Republican member of Congress) was the most effective in reducing belief in the ‘death panel’ myth about the Affordable Care Act.”
Bloomberg View reporter Noah Smith spotlights the research of Prof. David Autor, who has been “pioneering ways to make the economics discipline both more credible and more relevant.” To mitigate the impacts of trade, Smith writes that Autor believes the “U.S. government should focus attention on manufacturing industries, and even use industrial policy to bolster the sector.”