The Rise of Superstar Firms and the Fall of the Labor Share (David Autor, MIT)

The “labor share” of GDP has fallen since 2000. Is this another sign that the robots are going to rule our economy? David Autor, an economics professor at MIT, explains the differing explanations for why this is happening. The “labor share” of GDP means the share going to wages, salaries and benefits—as opposed to going to capital (stockholders, business owners, etc.). That money hasn’t gone away, but it has been concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer people. Why is this happening? Is it because of robots taking work from humans? A lack of competition? Or something else? David Autor explains the answers he discovered in his 2019 study on labor share and superstar firms. This video is based on the paper: The Fall of the Labor Share and the Rise of Superstar Firms by David Autor, David Dorn, Lawrence F. Katz, Christina Patterson, and John Van Reenen. https://economics.mit.edu/files/12979 More of David Autor’s work: https://economics.mit.edu/faculty/dauto Want to see more economists in the wild? Check out our playlist: https://mru.io/1708a Are you a teacher? Here’s a free curriculum about the future of jobs: https://mru.io/robots-e4827 Want to dive deeper? Check out this video to see how globalization and automation is changing our economy: https://mru.io/avengers-3fa96 Archival Sources: A/V Geeks/ Prelinger Archive Anonymous Content/ Image Bank Film/ Getty Images Archive Films: Creative/ Getty Images BBC Universal/ BBC Creative/ Getty Images Bloomberg Video - Footage/ Getty Images Chevrolet Coronet Instructional Films/ A/V Geeks/ Prelinger Archives Dynamic Pictures/ A/V Geeks/ Prelinger Archives Easy_Company/ Creatas Video/ Getty Images General Motors Gunay Mutlu/ Getty Imags Editorial Footage hoozone/ Vetta/ Getty Images John McBride & Company Inc./ Image Bank Film/ Getty Images KGUN-TV Kivilcim Pinar/ Getty Images Editorial Footage Klaus Vedfelt/ Image Bank Film/ Getty Images Korey Martin/ Getty Images Entertainment Video Leon Neal/ Getty Images Editorial Footage Lighthouse Films/ Getty Images Mark Steven Shepherd - Footage/ Getty Images Editorial Footage Matthew Horwood/ Getty Images Editorial Footage moov_stock/ Pond5.com Prelinger Archives Home Movies Prelinger/ Archive Films: Creative/ Getty Images Sean Gallup/ Getty Images Editorial Footage Sequential Pictures/ Shutterstock Silverwell Films/ Archive Films: Creative/ Getty Images Editorial Footage Simon Skafar, s.p./ Getty Images Editorial Footage simonkr/ Vetta/ Getty Images Sky News/Film Image Partner/ Sky News/ Getty Images Walmart Warner News Inc./ Prelinger Archives WW News/ Getty Images Editorial Footage Zhang Peng/ Getty Images Editorial Footage

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