Reviews
"Important... formidable...This book arrives at an opportune moment, when digital technology, currently surfing on a wave of irrational exuberance about ubiquitous AI, is booming, while the idea of shared prosperity has seemingly become a wistful pipe dream."-- John Naughton, The Observer, "A necessary corrective... They may not be techno-optimists, but their closing message is a hopeful one: humanity has done this before, and we can do it again... Power and Progress is no neo-luddite screed. It recognises the contribution technological advances can make towards shared prosperity, but it is a strident techno-realist takedown of the dominant narrative of its inevitability and a call to arms to make it a reality."-- Irish Times, "Innovation is undeniably a cool thing. Because of it, we survive diseases that regularly used to kill us. We can access and process unimaginable amounts of information. Without new technologies we would never meet the challenge to decarbonize the economy and contain climate change. But as Acemoglu and his MIT colleague Simon Johnson point out in their forthcoming book, Power and Progress (due out in May), contemporary evidence and the long story of humanity's technological development confirm 'there is nothing automatic about new technologies bringing widespread prosperity. Whether they do or not is an economic, social, and political choice.'"-- Eduardo Porter, Bloomberg
