Mark Zandi(@Markzandi):The economic angst many Americans feel has much to do with how the economic pie is being divided. From WWII to Y2K, workers received close to two-thirds of the pie, while capital received the other one-third. Since then, China’s rapid entry into the global economy, the Global Financial Crisis, the pandemic, and other forces have put labor on its heels, pushing the split closer to fifty-fifty. Measurement issues matter, and the exact shares are reasonably debated, but the direction is not. And it's not hard to imagine artificial intelligence supercharging this trend. Many Americans fear it will.

2026.08.17 14:13

The economic angst many Americans feel has much to do with how the economic pie is being divided. From WWII to Y2K, workers received close to two-thirds of the pie, while capital received the other one-third. Since then, China’s rapid entry into the global economy, the Global Financial Crisis, the pandemic, and other forces have put labor on its heels, pushing the split closer to fifty-fifty. Measurement issues matter, and the exact shares are reasonably debated, but the direction is not. And it's not hard to imagine artificial intelligence supercharging this trend. Many Americans fear it will.