The Wall Street Journal has described Hal Varian as the Adam Smith of Googlenomics. As the tech giant’s chief economist, he revolutionized Google’s business strategy, and is known now as perhaps the most prominent skeptic of America’s official, sluggish productivity numbers. He joined the podcast to discuss the tech industry, the future of the economy, and much more.

In addition to serving as Google’s chief economist, Hal Varian is a professor emeritus at the University of Berkeley and a fellow at the Guggenheim Foundation, the Econometric Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He’s also the author of two economics textbooks, and the co-author of the bestselling business strategy book, Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy.

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  1. Joe D. Inactive
    Joe D.
    @JosephDornisch

    I’m calling B.S. on the GPS argument, productivity would be increased because people (truckers/taxi drivers/etc) would get where they are going more efficiently and should theoretically be able to take more fares or ship more products (or at the very least consume less gas thus increasing the profitability of their work). Come on! That was weak.

    • #1
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