Hal Varian: The Productivity Paradox

April 28, 2017

Google’s Chief Economist, Hal Varian at Productivity in the Age of Fewer, Older Workers Spring Meetings seminar (IMF photo)

In This Episode

The labor force 30 years from now will look very different as working-age populations in advanced economies start to shrink. While some today worry they’ll lose their jobs to robots, economists like Google’s Hal Varian, wonder if technology will boost productivity enough to compensate for the shifting demographics. Varian, and Harvard’s David Canning, discussed the topic during an IMF World-Bank Spring Meetings seminar earlier this month.

Hal Varian, Google’s Chief Economist and an Emeritus Professor at UC Berkeley.
David Canning, Professor of Population Sciences, Economics and Intl Health, Harvard University, Department of Global Health and Population.
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International Monetary Fund

Bruce Edwards produces the IMF podcast program. He's an award-winning audio producer and journalist who's covered armed conflicts, social unrest, and natural disasters from all corners of the world. He believes economists have an important role in solving the world's problems and aspires to showcase their research in every IMF podcast.

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