The Economist spotlights a recent essay by Prof. David Autor and Elisabeth Reynolds, executive director of the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future, about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the state of work. “If remote working proves a lasting shift, then the café staff, taxi drivers and cleaners who depend on their custom could find themselves out of work,” writes The Economist.
Fast Company reporter Kristin Toussaint writes about a new study by Prof. David Autor that finds middle class jobs for non-college grads are disappearing, particularly for Black and Latino workers. Autor suggest that higher minimum wages “are surprisingly effective at improving the incomes of workers in low wage jobs,” adding that “they don’t seem to have noticeable adverse effects on employment.”
Prof. David Autor has found opportunities for minority workers in cities have receded, particularly those without college degrees, reports Jonnelle Marte for Reuters. “As the middle hollowed out, (minority workers) were more exposed to middle-skilled work, and net of that, they were also over-represented at the low end and under-represented at the high end,” says Autor.
Bloomberg reporter Peter Coy writes that a new study by Prof. David Autor finds cities are no longer “escalators of opportunity” for people in middle-paying jobs, in particular Black and Latino workers. Coy writes that Autor proposes, “one solution is to raise minimum wages in cities, which would raise the living standards of low-income workers.”
A study by Prof. David Autor finds that cities no longer guarantee middle-wage opportunities for Black and Latino workers, reports Andrew Van Dam for The Washington Post. "Changes in occupational structure, in cities, have been larger and arguably less favorable among Blacks and Hispanics than among whites," says Autor.
Axios reporter Erica Pandey writes that a study by Prof. Thomas Kochan underscores how the Covid-19 pandemic has uncovered longstanding shortcomings in worker power. "The key to going from isolated protests at a place like Amazon or Walmart to a force that’s really going to get the company to respond is the customer," says Kochan."Customers are the hidden source of power for workers."
Speaking with Greg Rosalsky of NPR’s Planet Money, Prof. David Autor delves into his new research showing that large American cities no longer provide the same opportunities for upward mobility for people without college degrees. “The set of jobs that people without college degrees do has really contracted,” explains Autor, co-director of the MIT Work of the Future task force.
In an article for The Wall Street Journal, visiting lecturer Irving Wladawsky-Berger highlights how MIT researchers have proposed a new method for measuring the value of digital goods to consumers. Using this new metric, researchers found that “the digital economy is contributing more consumer value than we’ve realized,” Wladawsky-Berger writes.
Forbes contributor Joe McKendrick writes that MIT researchers have developed a new metric for analyzing the value of the digital goods and services people use. McKendrick writes that the research provides “an idea of what digital goods -- those free or paid-for subscription services available via the internet and mobile -- add to our economy.”
Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson speaks with Sabri Ben-Achour of Marketplace about his work quantifying the economic benefits of goods and services that GDP does not measure. “We haven’t been measuring the value of the environment or digital goods,” says Brynjolfsson. “That means policy makers, when they are trying to see where is value coming and how is the economy growing, they have been missing that understanding.”
Wall Street Journal reporter Mike Bird writes that MIT researchers have proposed a new metric for GDP that would incorporate free digital goods and services. Bird explains that the researchers found that Facebook “would have boosted U.S. economic growth by between 0.05 and 0.11 percentage points a year” under the new metric.
Quartz reporter Eshe Nelson writes that MIT researchers have proposed redesigning GDP to incorporate free digital goods and services. Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson explains that updating GDP provides a “realistic idea of what creates value in society and what doesn’t. A lot of digital goods we’ll find are creating a ton of value.”
A study co-authored by MIT researchers finds that a movie and texting campaign effectively encouraged people in Nigeria to report corruption, reports Yomi Kazeen for Quartz. “Given the popularity of the local movie industry and the prevalence of corruption in Nigeria,” writes Kazeen, “the researchers looked to study how Nigerians report corruption using high-profile actors to model behavior.”
Axios reporter Steve Levine writes that a new paper by Prof. David Autor shows how, “cities, once the hope of people seeking a middle-class life, are now a symbol of the disappearance of well-paid, middle-skill work.”
In an article for the Pacific Standard about dispelling rumors and conspiracy theories, Nathan Collins highlights research by Prof. Adam Berinsky examining how information sources impact voters. “People speaking against their interests [are] more credible,” Berinsky explains. “What’s more credible: the surgeon general or McDonald’s saying you shouldn’t eat French fries?”