• Generative AI: the likely effects on productivity, growth, wages and inequality

    The invited policy 79th Economic Policy panel meeting (4 April 2024) featured Daron Acemoglu of MIT presenting a new analysis on the large macroeconomic implications of advances in generative artificial intelligence.

    Watch the livestream
  • Artificial Intelligence and the Economy

    The 79th Economic Policy Panel meeting took place on 4 and 5 April 2024, hosted and supported by the National Bank of Belgium. The papers presented will be part of a Special Issue on ‘Artificial Intelligence and the Economy’.

    Watch the livestream
  • Rethinking China’s growth

    The invited policy session of the 78th Economic Policy panel meeting (19-20 October 2023) featured Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University presenting new evidence of China’s heavy reliance on real estate and infrastructure construction as a central part of its economic growth.
    Watch the recording of the session.

    Watch the recording

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Recent Panel Meeting

79th Economic Policy Panel

The spring 2024 Economic Policy Panel hybrid meeting took place in Brussels, hosted and supported by the National Bank of Belgium on 4 and 5 April. The studies on agenda focused on the ‘AI and the Economy’.

AI adoption and jobs

GENERATIVE AI: THE LIKELY EFFECTS ON PRODUCTIVITY, GROWTH, WAGES AND INEQUALITY

The invited policy session of the 79th Economic Policy panel meeting (4 April 2024) featured Daron Acemoglu of MIT presenting new analysis of claims about the supposedly large macroeconomic implications of advances in generative artificial intelligence. Using a task-based approach to assessing AI’s effects on productivity, his study concludes that the impact on GDP is likely to be modest.
The research then explores the wage and inequality effects of generative AI, concluding that even if generative AI increases productivity in various tasks, these are unlikely to translate into higher wages or lower inequality. Rather, more favorable wage and inequality effects will depend on the creation of new tasks for workers in general and, more specifically, for middle and low-pay workers. Finally, it is important to consider the negative social value of some new AI tasks, such as manipulative advertising, and their potential macroeconomic effects.
Following the presentation, there was a panel discussion featuring Benoît Cœuré, President of l’Autorité de la Concurrence – French competition authority, and David Hémous, Associate Professor at the University of Zurich and Affiliated Professor at UBS Center for Economics in Society. Moderated by Tim Phillips of CEPR.

Simple Macroeconomics of AI

New research on the macroeconomic implications of advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI) concludes that the impact on GDP is likely to be modest. What’s more, according to the study by Daron Acemoglu of MIT prepared for the journal Economic Policy, there is no evidence that AI will reduce labour income inequality. Indeed, some groups, […]

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