The Good Fight David Autor on the Scars That Money Can’t Heal
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Mar 31, 2026 
David Autor, MIT labor economist known for research on trade shocks and the future of work, joins to discuss trade’s lasting social scars and why policy responses failed. He talks about the China trade shock’s concentrated harms. He explores how AI differs from prior tech and what that means for job reskilling and labor’s future.
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China Shock Caused Lasting Economic And Social Scars
- The China trade shock produced concentrated, long-lasting scarring beyond wages, affecting identity, family structure, and mortality among displaced manufacturing workers.
- David Autor notes ~4 million U.S. manufacturing jobs vanished over seven years, leaving many men in lower-paid service roles or out of the labor force.
Use Wage Insurance And Slow Shocks Not Just Retraining
- Policy could have eased the China shock by slowing the pace, policing currency/market distortions, and offering wage insurance rather than limited retraining.
- Autor cites wage insurance experiments (Obama era) as more effective than the then-funded trade adjustment programs.
Politics Failed To Learn Constructive Trade Lessons
- The U.S. political response learned little from trade dislocation; trade adjustment assistance is defunded while protectionism misallocates resources.
- Autor argues strategic investment (semiconductors, AI, fusion) and allied coordination matter, yet policy fractured instead.