economist

Artificial intelligence will be dangerous in the hands of unscrupulous people, according to Microsoft Corp. Chief Economist Michael Schwarz.“I am confident AI will be used by bad actors, and yes it will cause real damage,” Schwarz said during a World Economic Forum panel in Geneva on Wednesday. “It can do a lot damage in the hands of spammers with elections and so on.” AI “clearly” must be regulated, he said, but lawmakers should be cautious and wait until the technology causes “real harm.” Artificial intelligence tools…

The gender equity gap in the tech sector is well-documented. Research has found that women occupy only 22% of all tech roles across European companies, while the proportion of funding raised by female-only teams has dropped from 3% to 1% since 2018. The issue is prevalent at every level of the industry. A 2022 poll by Web Summit showed that 67% of European women in technology feel unfairly paid compared to their male peers. Despite this pessimistic picture, technology can also provide a means…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Floyd Jiuyun Zhang, a political economist at Stanford University, has conducted a study of the impact of the journal Nature endorsing presidential candidate Joe Biden back in 2020. In his paper published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, Zhang outlines the answers given by over 4,000 people to a survey designed to measure the impact of Nature endorsing a candidate for president.…

The rise of pay transparency laws in the United States could change how the nation's workers negotiate their annual salaries in today's fast-changing labor market.As layoffs mount in the face of recession fears, the increased number of job seekers will be seeing more positions in states that mandate pay ranges be publicly listed. Colorado became the first state to require public disclosures of salary ranges in 2021. Now jurisdictions including Washington state, California, and New York City have taken up similar mandatory…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain It's not exactly comforting that the United States is running up against its debt limit, as officials announced this week, nor is there immediate cause for concern for the average taxpayer, says University of Michigan economist Daniil Manaenkov. Manaenkov, an economic forecaster at U-M's Research…

ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence system that can produce sophisticated essays on complex subjects in seconds, will become the “calculator for writing," according to a leading economist. Erik Brynjolfsson,…

In his book, "Behavioral Economics for Leaders: Research-based insights on the weird, irrational, and wonderful ways humans navigate the workplace"​​, Matthias Sutter, director at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, describes findings from behavioural economics that are relevant in everyday professional life. Credit: ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy Matthias Sutter has been Director at the Max…

Consumers have held a recession at bay for months now with their robust spending, fighting off the burden of rising prices and higher interest rates. But their resolve, not to mention their financial reserves, are waning and that could force a retreat in the larger economy. “My guess is that a recession happens in the middle of 2023,” predicted economist Eliot Eisenberg while addressing the Denver Metro Association of Realtors Economic Summit on Friday morning. “It won’t be that deep and it won’t be that long.” Even if…

Inflation in the United States hit a record high in June 2022. Consumer prices soared by 9.1% compared with a year prior — the largest annual increase since 1981. While wages are rising, they're not keeping up with inflation. Wage growth has been consistent with an inflation rate of about 4.5%. Meanwhile, as of November, inflation was at 7.1%.Americans are feeling the brunt at the grocery store and gas station and with rent payments, too. Two-thirds of workers said their pay isn't keeping up with these higher prices. So…

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain In any other time, the jobs news that came down on Dec. 2, 2022, would be reason for cheer. The U.S. added 263,000 nonfarm jobs in November, leaving the unemployment rate at a low 3.7%. Moreover, wages are up—with average hourly pay jumping 5.1% compared with a year earlier. So why am I not…