Only Democracy Could Rein In the Dangers of Technology

A new book by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson warns that the tree of progress bears poisonous fruit if watered by power-hungry techno-optimists.

One of the metaphors often used in economic theory is that "when the tide comes in, it lifts all boats in the harbour." In other words, periods of economic buoyancy due, for example, to changing consumer attitudes and/or the introduction of new production technologies benefit everyone - small and large, albeit to varying degrees - in their own right. In their new book, Power and Progress, the eminent economists Daron Ademoglu and Simon Johnson challenge this view.