Jump-Starting America: Reviving the American Dream
MIT economists Jonathan Gruber and Simon Johnson joined the Council to discuss how the US can recreate an economy where the benefits of growth are shared more widely.
About This Event
America’s post-war history offers a blueprint for a more equitable economic future, argue MIT economists Jonathan Gruber and Simon Johnson. Starting in 1940, unprecedented public investment allowed for breakthroughs in science and technology. Advancements such as radar, digital computers, jet engines, and eventually the internet, enabled America to achieve economic supremacy, and were themselves catalysts for even greater economic growth. Yet in recent decades innovation has tended to reinforce inequality and concentrate wealth in a few coastal enclaves. How can America recreate an economy where the benefits of growth are shared more widely? And will technology help or hinder this process?
About the Speakers
Jonathan Gruber
Ford Professor of Economics, MIT; Director, Health Care Program, National Bureau of Economic Research
Simon Johnson
Ronald A. Kurtz Professor of Entrepreneurship, MIT; Former Chief Economist, International Monetary Fund
Phil Levy
Lead Trade Economist, World Bank
Phil Levy is lead trade economist at the World Bank and a former senior fellow on the global economy at the Chicago Council. Previously, he served as chief economist at Flexport, where he received national recognition for his work on supply chains, consumption, and trade.