More News from IWER
The AI revolution deciphered by David Thesmar and Augustin Landier
Professor David Thesmar said: "Economic studies find that AI can only replace a small percentage of the tasks performed by employees. That's because most of the work happens in the physical world, and humanoid robots aren't ready yet. The tasks replaceable by AI find themselves scattered across all jobs, which can paradoxically make employees more attractive for businesses." (Source: L'Express)
Is a venture studio right for your company?
Professor Fiona E. Murray and co-author wrote: "When combined with committed leadership and an organizational willingness to cede governance control to a venture-building group, and to build internal coordination to capitalize on the emerging ventures, a studio can serve as an important dimension of your innovation strategy."
Poor coordination can cost couples an average $14,000 in retirement wealth, research finds
By switching retirement contributions to the account with the higher match rate, 1 in 5 couples could increase their savings by an estimated $750 per year according to research by assistant professor Taha Choukhmane and co-authors. Choukmane said the research aims to gauge whether couples coordinate their finances as a household or instead manage their money individually. "The absence of coordination can be a choice, but it's a costly choice," he said.
The war on Iran and the war on Anthropic
Institute Professor Daron Acemoglu wrote: "Regardless of what one thinks of current AI capabilities, there is little doubt that who controls AI in the future will have momentous implications for democracy, business, communication, and privacy. Many in the industry may interpret the Anthropic ban to mean that the US government, not the private sector, will control AI."
Surging gasoline prices create new political woes for Trump
Global oil futures surged the most in four years Monday, rising as much as 14%. The price of crude accounts for about half of how much motorists pay at the pump. And when oil rises quickly, gasoline prices tend to follow suit. "It's the rockets and feathers effect," said professor Christopher Knittel, associate dean for climate and sustainability. "When things are going up — they go up fast."
The 'stablecoin sandwich' is dead: Why the next phase of crypto payments is all about the user relationship
Research scientist Christian Catalini said: "Not just Meta, but also Google, Apple, all of them will be using multiple providers, as is the case when they do disbursements of payments. I would expect the market to be commodified in the future, rather than a branded stablecoin. In a sense, it's a sign that the market has matured."
AI + work: Building pro-worker AI
Professor Simon Johnson, Institute Professor Daron Acemoglu, and MIT professor David Autor joined a webinar to discuss their new paper "Building pro-worker AI." "We are not currently on the pro-worker AI path and that's unfortunate, it's regrettable, it's avoidable, and we're working hard to try and get us onto a much more pro-worker path," said Johnson.
MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference still raising the bar as it celebrates 20th anniversary
Co-founded by Daryl Morey (MBA '00), the two-day conference has become a place where companies across the sports industry have found future employees among the MIT Sloan School of Management students that help plan and run it.
With so many storm outages, why don't we put more power lines underground in Mass.?
While burying power lines everywhere isn't feasible, there are still some places where the effort would be worth it, according to associate dean for climate and sustainability Christopher Knittel. " We don't have to necessarily move to a system where everything is underground," he said. "What we really need is a more targeted approach, which is to identify the most critical lines in the network and do the cost-benefit test on undergrounding those."