President Obama is slated to unveil his long-awaited jobs plan Thursday, September 8. What are the optimal policies he should advocate to restore both short- and long-term U.S. jobs growth? The answer depends first and foremost on the right diagnosis of the causes of anemic U.S. economic growth and corresponding job losses both over the past decade and in the last few years. Three primary—and fundamentally differing—diagnoses have been advanced. The two prevailing ones are: 1) this is a demand...

The innovation story is getting lost in the jobs story.  Case in point was the critique by George Mason University economist Russell Roberts on a comment by President Obama on technology and jobs (Obama vs. ATMs--Why Technology Doesn't Destroy Jobs - WSJ.com).  Roberts takes the President to task for suggesting that some technologies replace workers and thereby create short term dislocation.  Roberts discusses at great length the benefits to wealth creation of technology-induced productivity...