Back in 1996 , economist Paul Krugmanwrote an essayabout the next 100 years of economic history , as if looking back from the year 2096 . At the sum of that essay was the belief that white - collar jobs would disappear , and a college education would become much less valuable . And is this already fall out now ?
Top image : PeteAmachree on Deviant Art .
Krugman ’s view of the future already seems outdated in some ways — like , he spill about people “ sell compact disc ” of bootleg medicine . But some of his master ideas , like the difficulty of making a profit from noetic property , and the notion that a lot of blank - collar place jobs are being replace by technology or outsourcing , seem to have come up true already .
Back in 1996,“Krugman 2096 ” spell :
When something becomes abundant , it also becomes cheap . A world awash in information is one in which information has very little securities industry value . In general , when the economy becomes extremely sound at doing something , that activity becomes less , rather than more , important . Late-20th - one C America was supremely efficient at growing food ; that was why it had barely any farmers . Late-21st - century America is supremely efficient at processing unremarkable info ; that is why traditional white - catch workers have virtually go away .
… Many of the jobs that once required a college degree have been eliminated . The others can be done by any level-headed someone , whether or not she has study world literature .
Now , on his web log , Krugman pointsto an essay by economic science professor Nancy Folbre , who wanrs that :
With immense improvements in information technology , employer may now seek a belittled turn of specialized , technically trained experts rather than a large number of versatile , diversified liberal nontextual matter graduates … . If the bears are right , we may be moving toward a stage of capitalism less dependent on a growing supply of rest home - grown human capital . In that compositor’s case , many of those bullish on higher Department of Education investments in the United States could end up as red pith .
As a university education gets more expensive , and student loan debt becomes more taxing , the fact that college graduates are more potential to be unemployed in the past is really spoilt intelligence . So is Krugman ’s view of 2096 already number true , four score years betimes ?
Futurism
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