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6 Works 71 Members 1 Review

Works by James Bessen

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Common Knowledge

Birthdate
1958
Gender
male
Nationality
USA

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This is a pretty useful discussion of the real world impact of work experience and the people who make innovation work. Historically it has taken decades for workers to enjoy the monetary gain produced by technological improvements. But it is nowhere a given that any particular improvement will generate gains in the short term. Worse, the structure of the modern economy is undoubtedly working against the sharing of knowledge, a big way workers get to share in the wealth. Bessen is speaking, of course, of our wages, not those of the average Chinese worker whose wages have taken off in the most recent rounds of technological innovation. Bessen's core argument is that greater access to vocational training in the most modern sense will speed improvements to our wages. At the same time he remarks on some of the trends that will inevitably retard the process. They include the decline of funding for vocational institutions; the restrictions that occupational licensing places on the labour market; the growing tendency of government to favour large corporations over start-ups and universities to innovate; higher standards of secrecy, the growth of non-disclosure and non-compete agreements in hiring and partnering practices; patent laws and the corrosive effect of patent trolls on start-ups, and abusive patent litigation. All of this reduces sharing at the very basic level of industrial organization. Most surprising -- surprising not because it's wrong, just unexpected -- at the end of this study is a stinging indictment of money in politics, certainly American politics. Moneyed interests have stymied patent reform and any encroachment on the territory of licensed practitioners. Bessen's study of the mill workers in the 19th century indicates that there will be a lag in wage growth until standardization prevails in an industry and workers have a chance to catch up to technology. That's a big "until" in this world. If anything, innovation is accelerating these days. Will anybody be able to catch up? Anybody, that is, except artificial intelligence...supercomputers and self-improving bots. If anything, this is a very worrying book. I like to think of this excellent book as an update to William Greider's excellent 1998 introduction to Globalization "One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism."… (more)
 
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MylesKesten | Jan 23, 2024 |

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Works
6
Members
71
Popularity
#245,552
Rating
½ 3.3
Reviews
1
ISBNs
7

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