James Bessen
Harvard Biz Review
Harpswell, ME, United States
Contact James
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Past articles by James:
Stop Asking Job Candidates for Their Salary History
It’s a small step toward achieving equitable pay. → Read More
Research: Automation Affects High-Skill Workers More Often, but Low-Skill Workers More Deeply
According to a study of 36,000 Dutch firms. → Read More
How Software Is Helping Big Companies Dominate
They’re not just renting it from vendors — they’re building it themselves. → Read More
The Automation Paradox
When computers start doing the work of people, the need for people often increases. → Read More
How Technology Has Affected Wages for the Last 200 Years
At first they go down, but then they go up. → Read More
Scarce Skills, Not Scarce Jobs
The "real" challenge technology presents isn't that it replaces workers, but rather displaces them. → Read More
The Anti-Innovators
For much of the last century, the United States led the world in technological innovation—a position it owed in part to well-designed procurement programs at the Defense Department and NASA. → Read More
What the Courts Did to Curb Patent Trolling—For Now
For the first time in years, patent lawsuits are on the decline. → Read More
how companies kill their employees' job searches
The increasing reach of noncompete agreements and trade-secret laws leaves workers with slim pickings when looking for a new gig. → Read More
Employers Aren’t Just Whining – the “Skills Gap” Is Real
The evidence is there, if you know where to look. → Read More
Industrial Revolution Lessons for Today’s Age of Open Innovation
Much of today’s technology is powered by software that developers share freely. The leading Web server software (Apache), the leading smartphone operating system (Android), and most of the code of the leading Web browsers (Chrome, Firefox) are open source. Some people see these developments as evidence of a sharp break... → Read More
Some predict computers will produce a jobless future. Here’s why they’re wrong.
Computers are destroying some jobs, but they're also creating new opportunities. → Read More
Will robots steal our jobs? The humble loom suggests not.
Experience suggests that even if robots replace some workers, new demand for products and services will keep humans employed. → Read More
The Simple Fix That Could Transform the Troubled Patent System
This article is part of Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, the New America Foundation, and Slate that explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. On Dec. 9, 2013, Future Tense will host an event on patent reform in Washington, D.C. For more information and to RSVP, visit... → Read More
Don't Blame Technology for Persistent Unemployment
Are machines stealing our jobs? Automated teller machines handle transactions formerly done by bank tellers; accounting software does tasks that bookkeepers used to do; and e-commerce cuts out sales clerks. According to MIT professors Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, technology is causing persistent unemployment and a slow recovery from the... → Read More