We present the first estimates of long-run trends in intergenerational relative mobility for samples that are representative of the full U.S.-born population. Harmonizing all surveys that ask about father's occupation and own family income, we develop a mobility measure that allows for the...

Why have white, less educated voters left the Democratic Party over the past few decades? Scholars have proposed ethnocentrism, social issues and deindustrialization as potential answers. We highlight the role played by the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In event-study...

We introduce a model of technological advances as allowing for greater productivity at the cost of increased complexity. Complex goods and services require a large number of strongly complementary inputs. Innovation increases the probability that an input will be flawed, leading to a skewed...

Digital technologies are creating dramatically cheaper and more abundant substitutes for many types of ordinary labor and capital. If these inputs are becoming more abundant, what is constraining growth? We posit that most growth requires a third factor, ‘architecture’, that is indispensable...