Erik Brynjolfsson
Director, Stanford Digital Economy Lab at the Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI)
Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Professor and Senior Fellow, HAI
Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)
Professor by Courtesy
Department: Stanford Graduate School of Business Department of Economics
Colleges / Universities: Stanford University
Contact
Digital Economy Laboratory
366 Galvez Street, Room 238
Stanford, California 94305
Email: info@brynjolfsson.com
Website: Stanford University faculty profile
Personal Website: Erik Brynjolfsson
Erik Brynjolfsson is the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Professor and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI), and Director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. He also is the Ralph Landau Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), Professor by Courtesy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Department of Economics, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Professor Brynjolfsson’s research examines the effects of information technologies on business strategy, productivity and performance, digital commerce, and intangible assets.
One of the most-cited authors on the economics of information, Professor Brynjolfsson was among the first researchers to measure productivity contributions of IT and the complementary role of organizational capital and other intangibles. He has done pioneering research on digital commerce, the Long Tail, bundling and pricing models, intangible assets, and the effects of IT on business strategy, productivity, and performance.
Professor Brynjolfsson speaks globally. He is the author of nine books including, with co-author Andrew McAfee, best-seller The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies, and Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future. Additionally, Professor Brynjolfsson is author of over 100 academic articles, and holds five patents.
Degrees
B.A. Harvard University
M.S. Harvard University
Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Recent Academic Article Summaries
The Turing Trap: The Promise & Peril of Human-Like Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are being developed that can automate, that is substitute, for human labor, and AI can also augment or amplify human abilities. Both types of AI increase wealth, but automation could disempower displaced workers.
Policymakers could better support worker training. Policymakers could reduce tax incentives for automation.
Cybersecurity Hiring in Response to Data Breaches
Data on firm-level hiring shows that firms increase hiring of cybersecurity workers following data breaches, particularly when the press covers the breach.
Publicity improves incentives for firms to invest in safeguarding customer data.
Artificial Intelligence and the Modern Productivity Paradox: A Clash of Expectations and Statistics
Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing rapidly, but productivity growth has been falling for a decade, and real income has stagnated. The most plausible explanation is that it will take considerable time for AI-related technologies to be deployed throughout the economy.
Intangible AI-related gains are hard to measure using traditional metrics such as Gross Domestic Product. Economists should develop new methods of measurement.
GDP-B: Accounting for the Value of New and Free Goods
Current methods fail to capture the value of new and free goods to national productivity. A new framework, GDP-B, better measures the benefits of these goods.
New and free goods benefit consumers. These goods should not be excluded from measurements of economic growth.
What Can Machine Learning Do? Workforce Implications
Some predict that machine learning (ML) will replace human workers. However, ML’s economic effects will be more complex, and a new framework is needed to understand how ML will affect incomes, demand, and wages.
ML will cause demand for some skills, workers, and products to rise.
Blog Posts
Quotes in the News
Brynjolfsson, E. (2021, May 20). Boston Review.When it comes to AI’s effect on the workforce, the real challenge is wages, not jobs. While employment has grown over the past forty years, real wages for Americans with a high school education or less have fallen. — Erik Brynjolfsson, Director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, Stanford University
Erik Brynjolfsson
Director, Stanford Digital Economy Lab at the Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI)
Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Professor and Senior Fellow, HAI
Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)
Professor by Courtesy
Stanford Graduate School of Business Department of Economics
Stanford University
Brynjolfsson, E. (2020, September 17). The New York Times.“When it comes to remote work in particular, the past 10 weeks have seen more changes than we’ve seen in the previous 20 years. We haven’t seen anything like it since World War II.”
Erik Brynjolfsson
Director, Stanford Digital Economy Lab at the Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI)
Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Professor and Senior Fellow, HAI
Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)
Professor by Courtesy
Stanford Graduate School of Business Department of Economics
Stanford University
Brynjolfsson, E. (2019, July 19). The New York Times.“The biggest barrier to getting technology rolled out is the organizational resistance to adoption. So companies need a strategy not only for how to get it to work, but also how to get the work force behind getting it rolled out.”
Erik Brynjolfsson
Director, Stanford Digital Economy Lab at the Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI)
Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Professor and Senior Fellow, HAI
Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)
Professor by Courtesy
Stanford Graduate School of Business Department of Economics
Stanford University
Brynjolfsson, E. (2019, June 5). Global Finance.“For every dollar spent on technological breakthroughs, $10 is spent on complementary adjustments so business can take advantage of it. Jeff Bezos didn’t just take a bookstore and add a website. He completely changed the supply chain.”
Erik Brynjolfsson
Director, Stanford Digital Economy Lab at the Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI)
Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Professor and Senior Fellow, HAI
Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)
Professor by Courtesy
Stanford Graduate School of Business Department of Economics
Stanford University
Brynjolfsson, E. (2019, May 23). World Economic Forum.“You can’t manage what you can’t measure. And we’re getting it all wrong when it comes to today’s internet-fuelled economy.”
Erik Brynjolfsson
Director, Stanford Digital Economy Lab at the Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI)
Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Professor and Senior Fellow, HAI
Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR)
Professor by Courtesy
Stanford Graduate School of Business Department of Economics
Stanford University
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