A Research Agenda for the Economics of Transformative AI
Erik Brynjolfsson, Anton Korinek, Ajay Agrawal · Communications of the ACM · 21 Oct 2026
Where this sits in the debate
- Will AI actually boost productivity and growth?
- Will AI widen inequality?
- How fast will the impact arrive? · its finding supports the claim (why studies differ)
Direction of the finding as read from the abstract by an AI model (AI-written).
Key takeaway AI-written
Brynjolfsson, Korinek and Agrawal set out a research agenda for the economics of transformative AI. They argue that because AI is advancing faster than economic institutions can adapt, open questions about growth, science and innovation, income distribution, decision making and safety need to be addressed.
The paper in three steps AI-written
Written by an AI agent from the paper's abstract, which is the primary source and is quoted below.
How to read it: commentary. An argued position by researchers — informed opinion rather than new evidence.
Limitations and counterpoints AI-written
The abstract describes an agenda only; it reports no estimates or empirical results.
Abstract
As TAI advances faster than economic institutions can adapt, fundamental questions about economic growth, science and innovation, income distribution, decision making, safety, and more must be addressed.
About this publication
Academic journal. Published in an academic journal — typically peer-reviewed before publication, though indexing alone doesn't guarantee review depth.
- Published
- 2026 (recently)
- Citations
- 0 (OpenAlex)
0 citations recorded by OpenAlex — too few 2026 papers in this collection for a fair comparison.
Ajay Agrawal, Anton Korinek, Erik Brynjolfsson signed the wemustactnow.ai letter · author affiliation matches seed institutions stanford, stanford university, university of toronto, university of virginia — part of why this paper is in the collection.
Related by theme, not necessarily by method or conclusion.
- The Potentially Large Effects of Artificial Intelligence on Economic Growth
Goldman Sachs · 2023 - Macroeconomic productivity gains from Artificial Intelligence in G7 economies
OECD · 2025 - Generative AI in Business Analytics: Opportunities and Risks for National Economic Growth
Journal of Computer Science and Technology Studies · 2026 - The Impact of Artificial Intelligence as a General-Purpose Technology on Economic Growth and Structural Transformation: An Innovation Ecosystem Perspective
Economies · 2026
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