Power and Progress

Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson argue that technological advancement does not automatically lead to shared prosperity. Through a thousand-year historical arc, they examine how the benefits of innovations like the medieval moldboard plow and the industrial steam engine were captured by narrow elites rather than the labor force. The authors demonstrate that progress depends on institutional choices that direct innovation toward augmenting human capabilities rather than simply automating tasks for surveillance and cost-cutting. They analyze the current trajectory of artificial intelligence, warning that without organized social pressure and redirected engineering goals, digital tools will likely increase inequality and undermine democratic stability.

This book serves economists, policy makers, and technology professionals who need to understand the relationship between technical shift and social welfare. Readers gain a framework for evaluating whether specific digital developments will marginalize workers or create new roles. It provides historians and social scientists with a historical basis for advocating for stronger labor protections and collective bargaining in the tech sector. By the end, a reader understands the mechanisms required to decouple wealth concentration from innovation and how to orient future software design toward genuine human empowerment.