Our Annual Workshop assembled a community of faculty, students, fellows, industry leaders, and supporters to share research and discuss groundbreaking ideas related to the digital economy.
This year’s Stanford Digital Economy Lab Annual Workshop featured short research presentations, extended Q&As, and a keynote speaker—and was one of this year’s prime opportunities to discuss and debate with the brightest researchers in the field.
This year’s workshop focused on how we measure productivity and the impacts of automation and AI across industries and around the world. In addition to our sessions focused on measurement, we selected a subset of research projects from the Lab’s other research areas: AI & the Future of Work, Digital Platforms, Data-Driven Decision-Making and Management Practices, and the Economic and Productivity Impacts of COVID-19.
We concluded the day with a workshop dedicated to the Global Vibrancy Tool of AI Index, an interactive visualization that allows cross-country comparison among countries and regions across various indicators of AI progress — specifically, how to best track and benchmark countries’ or regions’ AI-related activities.
The workshop also featured the keynote presentation, “What Don’t We Know About Measuring the Digital Economy?” by Diane Coyle, the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge.
Our annual workshop was open to members of the Stanford community, as well as Lab supporters and Corporate Affiliate members.
Diane Coyle, the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, delivered her keynote presentation, “What Don’t We Know About Measuring the Digital Economy?” during the 2021 Stanford Digital Economy Lab Annual Workshop.
Schedule
All times Pacific Time (PT)
9:30a PT
Welcome
Christie Ko
Executive Director, Stanford Digital Economy Lab
9:40a PT
Introduction
Erik Brynjolfsson
Director, Stanford Digital Economy Lab
10:00a PT
Keynote: “What Don’t We Know About Measuring the Digital Economy?”
Diane Coyle
Bennett Professor of Public Policy, University of Cambridge
10:30a PT
Measurement Deep Dive: New GDP-B Results
Avinash Collis
Digital Fellow, Stanford Digital Economy Lab
Assistant Professor, McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin
11:00a PT
5-minute break
11:05a PT
Panel Discussion: New Measures of the Economy
A panel of experts discuss some of the latest innovations in measurement that could fundamentally transform businesses and the economy. Moderated by Erik Brynjolfsson. Panelists include:
Nela Richardson
Chief Economist, ADP
Rachel Soloveichik
Economist, Bureau of Economic Analysis
Read: Theoretical Inflation During Stay-In-Place Behavior by Rachel Soloveichik
Hal Varian
Chief Economist, Google
12:00p PT
Lunch break
12:30p PT
Research Presentations
A series of brief presentations covering a wide array of topics focused on the digital economy.
“Antitrust in Enterprise Software: Will Increases in Competition Boost Innovation?”
Riitta Katila
“When Small Businesses Become Data-Driven: A Field Experiment on eBay”
Sagit Bar-Gill
“Engineering Value: The Returns to Technological Talent and Investments in Artificial Intelligence”
Daniel Rock
“Worker in the Loop: Complementing AI-enabled Robots in Conditions That Drive Substitution”
Matt Beane
“Job Connectivity and the Economic Resilience of Urban Labor Markets”
Morgan Frank
“The Power of Prediction: Predictive Analytics, Workplace Complements, and Business Performance”
Wang Jin
“Soft Skills meet Hard Technology: Humans, Productivity, and Earnings in the Digital Workplace”
Kristina McElheran
“Using Language Models to Understand Wage Premia”
Sarah Bana
“A New Set of IT Metrics: Evidence from Job Posting Skill Demands”
Sebastian Steffen
“Assessing the Productivity Implications of Foundation Models”
Zanele Munyikwa
2:05p PT
AI Index Workshop
Daniel Zhang
Policy Research Manager, Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)
A presentation on the Global AI Vibrancy Tool of the AI Index, followed by discussions on creating an Index to track and benchmark countries’ or regions’ AI-related activities.
3:00p PT
Closing remarks
Stanford Digital Economy Lab Corporate Affiliates receive invitations to our events and have the opportunity to exchange ideas with Lab faculty, staff, students, and fellows. Corporate Affiliates may also have the option to engage in Lab research projects.
