As this column goes to press, the world oil price is well north of $70 a barrel, a long way from the nadir of $30 a mere 30 months ago. So the oil forecaster’s parlor game is again in full swing. Will we see a return to the $150 barrel, the peak last experienced in…
WALL STREET JOURNAL …. >> Will robots cause the factory to go the way of the farm? Many economists seem to think so.
REAL CLEAR BOOKS …. >> RealClearBooks: Let’s start with your book title. I always thought the advent of robots would mean we wouldn’t have to work anymore.
REAL CLEAR BOOKS …. >> One of humanity’s oldest pursuits is inventing machines that reduce the labor-hours needed to perform tasks. History offers hundreds of examples, each of which seemed amazing at the time.
INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY …. >> Economists are notoriously lousy at predicting technology or understanding the laws of nature. But the closest economists get to having a law of physics is in the truism that increasing productivity is the primary force driving economic growth.
CITY JOURNAL .… >> It’s mostly accepted wisdom in policy circles: automation means that manufacturing employment is destined to follow the historical example of farm work, becoming a negligible share of the U.S. workforce. Even those who embrace the Trump administration’s efforts to “onshore” factories say that we should be “honest about the facts,” especially to…
