The AI Economy Is Missing the Secret Sauce of the 1990s: Essay

Months after he stepped down as chair of the Federal Reserve in January 2006, Alan Greenspan visited the Bloomberg News office in Washington, DC. Looking back over the previous decade or so, he explained what was behind that period’s extraordinary slowdown in US inflation. One indicator in particular was key, he said.

Having read up on Greenspan’s analysis before the event, I couldn’t help interjecting. “The import price of Chinese goods!” I blurted out. Greenspan looked over at me and asked whether I cared to deliver the rest of the presentation. I quickly apologized and, of course, deferred to the ...