Just what explains today's continuing high unemployment remains a central economic question of our time. In my last column, I largely exonerated the computer revolution, which — according to some economists — eliminates more jobs than it creates. This (the argument goes) makes it hard to reduce the joblessness that resulted from the Great Recession.
To the contrary, past technological upheavals have tended to be net job creators through two mechanisms: lower prices, which expand demand for their output; and higher wages and profits, which increase purchasing power across the economy. There's little evidence that computer technologies depart from this history.
Interestingly, two longer essays appeared on the same subject almost simultaneously with mine. They make fascinating reading for anyone engaged by this vital issue. The first, "Automation Anxiety" by Daniel Akst in The Wilson Quarterly (ow.ly/n1MCR), recounts a similar episode at the start of the 1960s.