Showing 1 - 10 of 13
Reform needs more than just a chainsaw
News, Published on 10/03/2025
» Billionaire and Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) czar Elon Musk and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer could not be more different. But they share a stated common goal: cutting red tape and reducing the burden of government on businesses.
Can AI revolutionise prosperity?
Oped, Published on 06/09/2024
» As global economic growth slows, many hope technological innovation is a potential solution. The International Monetary Fund's latest World Economic Outlook, for example, highlighted the potential of artificial intelligence to boost productivity and GDP. But the report also warns that given the uncertainties surrounding the extent of AI's impact, such forecasts should be approached with a dose of caution. While AI could usher in an era of prosperity, this outcome depends on how these emerging technologies evolve.
'Time tax' rises despite modern tech innovations
Oped, Published on 04/07/2024
» Despite the rapid proliferation of artificial-intelligence chatbots and virtual assistants, finding an answer to a question that a company's software is not programmed to address can be frustrating. Searching through countless options on price-comparison websites for the best insurance policy or airline ticket can be equally exhausting. Yet, we tend to view this "time tax" as the cost of doing business in today's digitised global economy.
Why sharing the tech wealth is really important
Oped, Published on 08/03/2024
» One of the defining economic challenges of our time is how to distribute the value generated by groundbreaking technologies, such as generative artificial intelligence and recent innovations in biomedicine and manufacturing. To improve living standards, the benefits of transformative technologies must be widely shared. So far, however, these benefits have been monopolised by a small cadre of tech billionaires.
Tackling populism at its roots
News, Published on 10/01/2024
» As Western democracies become increasingly polarised, rural and small-town voters are regularly pitted against their counterparts in larger urban centres. While this is not a new phenomenon -- and certainly not the only factor affecting voting patterns -- the rural-urban divide is a significant driver of today's culture wars. This dynamic, which economist Andres Rodriguez-Pose evocatively described as the "revenge of the places that don't matter", suggests that the ongoing populist surge largely reflects geographic disparities.
Unlocking AI's potential for everybody
Oped, Published on 18/08/2023
» Artificial intelligence is moving fast. People are using generative AI and large language models (LLMs) to build new services and perform existing tasks, and the underlying technology itself is advancing quickly. As the Nobel laureate economist Michael Spence observes, this wave of adoption could well yield significant productivity gains, after almost two decades of lackluster growth. Every day brings news like Google's recent announcement that its AI has helped American Airlines reduce contrails by 54%, reducing each flight's climate footprint.
Adam Smith 300 years later
Oped, Published on 30/06/2023
» This year marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of Adam Smith, the founding father of modern economics. It comes at a time when the global economy faces several daunting challenges.
The promise and peril of generative AI technology
Oped, Published on 26/04/2023
» Ever since OpenAI released its ChatGPT chatbot last year, a growing number of analysts have been predicting that generative artificial intelligence will displace millions of workers and cause widespread economic upheaval. But how exactly will generative AI affect the global economy?
Preempting a generative AI monopoly
Oped, Published on 07/02/2023
» ChatGPT, the new artificial-intelligence chatbot developed by the San Francisco-based research laboratory OpenAI, has taken the world by storm. Already hailed as a milestone in the evolution of so-called large language models (LLMs), the world's most famous generative AI raises important questions about who controls this nascent market and whether these powerful technologies serve the public interest.
Global shocks prompt rethink on supply chains
Oped, Published on 15/06/2022
» Starting in the 1980s, transnational production enabled the expansion of global trade and low prices for goods, contributing significantly to economic growth. But the shocks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war have shown firms that the efficiency gains implied by the global division of labour -- and just-in-time production -- come at the cost of resilience. With global supply-chain bottlenecks unlikely to resolve themselves soon, firms have turned their attention to reshoring or at least "friend-shoring", which seeks to combine closer geographic proximity with greater geopolitical peace of mind.