Harnessing Technology for Inclusive Prosperity: Growth, Work, and Inequality in the Digital Era

Transformative new technologies are reshaping economies and societies. But as they create new opportunities, they also pose new challenges, not least of which is rising inequality. Increased disparities and related anxieties are stoking societal discontent and political ferment. Harnessing technological transformation in ways that foster its benefits, contain risks, and build inclusive prosperity is a major public policy challenge of our time and one that motivates this book. In what ways are the new technologies altering markets, business models, work, and, in turn, economic growth and income distribution? How are they affecting inequality within advanced and emerging economies and the prospects for economic convergence between them? What are the implications for public policy? What new thinking and adaptations are needed to realign institutions and policies, at national and global levels, with the new dynamics of the digital era? This book addresses these questions. It seeks to promote ideas and actions to manage digital transformation and the latest advances in artificial intelligence with foresight and purpose to shape a more prosperous and inclusive future.

Table of Contents:
Foreword Cecelia Elena Rouse Acknowledgments 1 Overview: Digital Transformation, New Growth and Distribution Dynamics, and Public Policy Brahima Coulibaly and Zia Qureshi Part I Technology, Globalization, and the Changing World of Work and Business 2 The Labor Market Impacts of Technological Change: From Unbridled Enthusiasm to Qualified Optimism to Vast Uncertainty David Autor 3 Digital Technology and Globalization: The Promise and Pitfalls Kaushik Basu 4 Prospects for Global Economic Convergence under New Technologies Dani Rodrik Part II Regional Perspectives on the New Dynamics 5 New Technologies, Productivity, and Inequality in Latin America Santiago Levy 6 Technology, Jobs, and the Future of Work in India Radhicka Kapoor and P.P. Krishnapriya 7 Addressing Digital Gaps in Africa to Boost Inclusive Growth and Economic Convergence Haroon Bhorat, Landry Signé, Zaakhir Asmal, Jabulile Monnakgotla, and Christopher Rooney Part III Implications for Global Inequality 8 Global Income and Wealth Inequality Lucas Chancel 9 Actual versus Perceived Trends in Inequality: Why They Both Matter Carol Graham and Janina Curtis Bröker Contributors Index

About the Author :
BRAHIMA COULIBALY is vice president and director of the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings and the Edward M. Bernstein Scholar, having served earlier as director of the program’s Africa Growth Initiative. Previously he was chief economist and head of the emerging market and developing economies group at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. He has published widely on topics in international finance, macroeconomics, economic development, monetary economics, and trade. His research has featured in prominent media outlets. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan. ZIA QURESHI is a senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings. His research covers a broad range of global economic issues. He has recently led research projects at Brookings on the implications of technological change for productivity, growth, jobs, inequality, and globalization. Previously he worked at the World Bank and the IMF, where he held leadership positions, including serving as director, Development Economics, at the World Bank. He led several World Bank and IMF flagship publications. He holds a D.Phil. in economics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Review :
A fascinating cross-section of leading views on the interaction between technology and economic development. Anyone interested in the future of work around the world should read this volume. All the research and policy questions are here. These very important essays address the fundamental challenge of redesigning economic policy in the digital era. The breathtaking advances in AI and digital technologies offer new opportunities for rapid growth but also pose major risks of job displacement, widening inequalities, and the end of traditional pathways of development. Policymakers, scholars, and students everywhere will be turning to this volume for cutting-edge ideas and new policy approaches. This book brings together an all-star cast to contribute compelling and persuasive analysis of what policymakers can do to harness technology. It is a refreshingly substantive and practical approach to a topic that is often treated with a misguided fatalism--we can make a better future but it will not happen automatically.