【Macro Seminar】Artificial Intelligence and the Narrower Corridor
2021/09/07
研討會日期 : 2021-09-07
時間 : 14:30
主講人 : Professor Cyrus Chu (朱敬一)
主持人 : Professor Han Yang
地點 : Mo-Huan Auditorium
演講者簡介 : Professor Chu received his Ph.D. in Economics from University of Michigan in 1985. He is currently a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica. His research fields are Population Economics, Law and Economics, Public Economics, Regional Economics, and Family Economics.
演講摘要 : This paper analyzes how information technology changes the narrow corridor of democracy. Motivated by recent literature in political sciences, we extend the classic model of Acemoglu and Robinson (2012, 2013) by considering a generalized production function, in which the complementarity between technology and the strength of the state, versus that between technology and the strength of the society, may be different. Comparative dynamics show that the emergence of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and big data, narrows the inclusive corridor, when such technologies are more complementary to the strength of the state than to that of the society. Our theoretical results support the empirical findings of political scientists whereby information technology threatens fragile democracies. We also explain why the Arab Spring turned out to become a bitter winter and why China became more totalitarian by using artificial intelligence plus big data to amplify surveillance efficiency.
