Hal Varian: In defense of Big Tech

What this episode covers

The debate in Washington about the American technology sector has shifted in recent years, going from “Big Tech is leading us to the future” to “What has tech done for us lately?” So has the technology sector failed to deliver for the past few decades? And what should policymakers and scientists be doing to maximize technological advancement? Hal Varian joins me on today’s episode of Political Economy to explain why he is much more optimistic about the few decades’ worth of innovation. Hal is the chief economist at Google. He is also an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was the founding dean of its School of Information. He’s also the author of two economics textbooks, and the co-author of the bestselling business strategy book, Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy . You can also check out the transcript of this podcast here .

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