"This conference is always a who's who of the econ world. Big-name economists debated on stage some of the most pressing questions in the field: Is there economic opportunity in the U.S. anymore? (Kind of.) Can we still trust government statistics? (Yes.) Did the pandemic change how inflation works? (Still up for debate.) The real highlight, though, is when economists present their latest research. Like a lot of academic research, economics research can be slow, tedious, laborious."
"One of the interesting papers we discovered at AEA was titled, "The Rise of Industrial AI in America: Microfoundations of the Productivity J-curve(s)." It's by Kristina McElheran, Mu-Jeung Yang, Zachary Kroff and Erik Brynjolfsson, and it gives a glimpse into what actually happens to a firm's productivity when they start using new technologies like AI. They find that first, productivity goes down. Then, it rises. Tevhey call this a "J" curve, after the shape of the letter."
Thousands of economists met at the American Economic Association annual meeting in Philadelphia to present and debate current research. High-profile debates focused on U.S. economic opportunity (modest), the reliability of government statistics (affirmed), and whether the pandemic altered inflation dynamics (uncertain). The meeting showcased early-stage academic papers, many pre–peer review, offering previews of emerging ideas. One firm-level study using linked Census data from 2017–2021 finds that adopting industrial AI first lowers productivity, then raises it, producing a J-shaped productivity path as firms adjust to the new technology.
Read at www.npr.org
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