Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson: Power and Progress

This semester, the PPE Reading Group will meet for lunch and discussion of Power and Progress: Our 1000-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity (2023) by Nobel Laureates Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson. Free pizza and soft drinks will be provided!

From plows to factories to AI, new technologies have driven economic change. While technology is often viewed as bringing progress, Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson argue that the reality is more complicated. Technology can provide new opportunities and new growth, but who will reap the benefits if contested. The powerful are often able to harness technological change for their own gain. Acemoglu and Johnson lead us through a discussion of how technological change occurs, who benefits from it, and how we can bend its trajectory to make everyone better off. As they emphasize in their introduction, “you can’t stop technological change, but you can shape it.”

The reading group will meet from 12:30-1:45pm on September 16, September 30, October 21, and November 11, in Pamplin Hall, Room 1028.

The Center will provide free copies of the book. Participation is open to all Virginia Tech students and faculty. 

To receive your free book, please sign up with PPE Core Faculty member Melinda Miller (millermc@nullvt.edu), ideally well before the first meeting.

(Image: Acemoglu photo by Jared Charney Johnson photo courtesy MIT Sloan)