Technological progress in the last two centuries, and especially in the recent past, has been
nothing short of amazing. So why are we so unhappy? Why aren’t we all rich? Why are we so
unequal in material success? Why is social unrest just as wrenching as it was in earlier, poorer
times?
When Daron Acemoglu speaks, I listen. Well on his way to a Nobel Prize, Acemoglu is probably the most productive “young” economist out there. (He’s 53, but has been regarded as outstanding since his twenties.) His popular books are written with co-authors, usually James Robinson or Simon Johnson. Acemoglu’s new book, Power and Progress: Our 1000-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, co-authored with Johnson, is a sequel to Acemoglu’s excellent 2012 book with Robinson, Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty and addresses the above questions. Given the vast scope of their undertaking, the authors perform adequately. But while some of the remedies they propose for the problems they identify are sensible, some — in particular, reining in technological change through government action — are flat-out wrong.
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