Economic history provides a useful lens to view society’s most recent technological transformation. Generative artificial intelligence is reshaping the nature of work. Headlines emphasize job displacement, altered entry-level hiring pipelines, and corporate restructurings. [i] Viewing these changes through a pessimistic lens is natural. However, examining this moment through classical economic principles reveals a familiar, necessary cycle. In the economic sense, history cle

A well-known parable describes a policeman who finds a drunkard searching for his keys under a streetlamp. The policeman asks where the man dropped them. The man points toward a dark alley. "Then why look here?" the officer asks. The man replies, "Because the light is better." This "Streetlamp Parable" illustrates observational bias. It describes our tendency to search for answers where data is easiest to find rather than where truth actually resides. To navigate this bias, I