marco grazzi

An economist, many interests.
"If it matters, it's endogenous and carries a conflict of interest"

[Associazione Newman @newman_it]

📌 Lunedì 9/12 🕘 21.15
"Che cos'è l'autonomia differenziata?" Insieme a @NGenerazione vogliamo capire, al di là delle narrazioni (più o meno ideologiche), che cosa sia l'#autonomiadifferenziata. Con @cortesifra, @GrazziMarco, Giuseppe Calabrese e @bennabonf

#newman

[Fabio Pieri @FabPieri80]

🚨@UniTrento calls for two 12-month (renewable) junior (post MA) and senior (post PhD) Research Fellowships for @ScholarsAtRisk. 🚨

First call: https://t.co/7q6tLYAT0R
Second call: https://t.co/N4lQIGkUXV

#EconTwitter

[marco grazzi @GrazziMarco]

Check call for what is required: CV, motivation letter, project, 2 letters...
The title and content of the project must refer to 1 of the 2 areas: "Management" or "Innovation studies". Candidates must specify in the project header which of the two is their chosen research area

[marco grazzi @GrazziMarco]

📌PhD positions in Innovation Studies, with scholarships
Track in innovation in the PhD at Università Cattolica, Milan, Italy.
Call: https://t.co/v49pXDZxKM
Deadline: June 17, 12pm CET

Apply to the program "Management and Innovation". More info also here
https://t.co/e8jRb1nNyy

[marco grazzi @GrazziMarco]

@mrcpangallo @doyne_farmer @INETOxford @INET_Complexity Thank you Marco!!! I have read the review and I now I feel like I want to read the book...

[Joseph E. Stiglitz @JosephEStiglitz]

Please join us if you’re able on Zoom, Wednesday, April 17 at 4 p.m. ET.

[Joseph E. Stiglitz @JosephEStiglitz]

From idea to draft to proofs to galleys to book, I always find it exciting and amazing. Thank you @brendancurry and @wwnorton for bringing this so elegantly to life. And thank you @anyaSIPA for the inspiration and discussion that was so important in shaping this.

[Project Syndicate @ProSyn]

At our next virtual event, happening on April 10, @APonceETUI of @ETUI_org
will engage with other leaders and experts on the #policy challenge posed by rapidly evolving #AI. Register now at the link. #PSEvents https://t.co/JfuS17GmaF

[Elena Cefis @ElenaCefis]

📢Call for papers for a special issue of ICC coordinated by Silvia Massini (@OfficialUoM), Jakob Edler (Fraunhofer Institute), and myself (@UniBergamo) on #Innovation #Policy in view of the #Digital and #Green #Transformations. Deadline: 31.10.24 https://t.co/0ignu3bBXv

[Elena Cefis @ElenaCefis]

Please, share 🙏 #EconTwitter @DseUnibg @VMeliciani @maria_savona @TBroekel @svannuccini @ValeryCirillo @CCastaldi @AndreaRoventini @GrazziMarco @fix_frarent @afaggian @MontresorSandro @petersbettina2

[Marco Sanfilippo @marcosanfilip]

‼️Phd students interested in development‼️: This is a fantastic opportunity to get great classes from top scholars, interact with students in your field in a very informal setting. Location (the picture ⬇️ is the real place!) is clearly a plus.

Apply!! https://t.co/p1704nZ7cf

[César A. Hidalgo @cesifoti]

Is Generative AI a Bubble?

Let me make the contrarian case that we are living in the middle of a generative AI bubble.

First, I want to clarify that I am not an AI skeptic or fatalist. I don’t believe AI will take over the world and must be stopped. On the contrary, I am a long time user and fan of artificial intelligence. At the same time, I’ve also been around long enough to know that unbridled enthusiasm and too many Super Bowl ads spell bubble. So let me make the contrarian case that we are living through a generative AI bubble; even though I strongly believe AI is here to stay.

My case rehashes ideas introduced by Herbert Simon more than 50 years ago. Basically, the notion that since generative AI supplies content what it demands is attention. And attention, not content, is what’s scarce in our world.

So let’s get started. In the last couple of years everybody and their mother has experienced the jaw dropping power of AI generated images, text, and video. And we can all agree that their quality has improved enormously. No doubt, we are moving towards a world that will be inundated by AI generated content. But here is the twist. We can also all agree that six years ago, when these technologies were nowhere near as good as they are today, the world was not suffering from a lack of images, text, or video. Generative AI is cool, but it is not satisfying a need involving a real supply constraint.

I love generative AI. It is beautiful and poetic. It is certainly helping online attention junkies & marketing folks generate fleeting waves of engagement. But those generated ads and memes are chasing the same eyeballs and dollars. AI generated video can create beautiful shots and will surely be used in film. But what supply constraint is that truly releasing? Will we watch more films as a result of that? Will we pay more for them? Much of the world is already glued to a screen for 5 to 8 hours a day.

By all means we must celebrate advances in AI. Whether in film, the arts, or in other fields. They represent a great triumph of human ingenuity and creativity. But we also need to acknowledge that these triumphs impact specific parts of systems that involve multiple constraints. Our modern knowledge economy has some legit supply constraints that are out of reach from AI technology, because AI does not do what we need. It simply does what it does. Our economy remains largely physical. Despite the growing importance of digital technology, I bet you that housing, taxes, travel, and food still explain most of your credit card bill. To put this in simple terms, consider our knowledge economy’s voracious need for housing. If young professionals want a battle cry for their generation that could well be: we wanted homes, but all we got were more memes. AI is a technology driven by supply side interests, but it is still, a bit like the proverbial hammer looking for a nail.

Today, gen AI is a technology that lives primarily on the web, where it is used primarily to generate content. But we need to remember that in the web, content is not always king. One way to conceptualize the modern web, and its economy, is as a symbiotic battle between content engines and attention engines. Attention engines have the traffic. They are mainly search and social media. These are the platforms that have the eyeballs that everyone is competing to attract. If you are not a platform, you are either an eyeball, a content producer, or both. Also, if you are not a platform, you are at a clear disadvantage, as you are one more content producer competing for a tiny share of the attention that platforms have. Generative AI is not a platform. It is a powerful tool to accelerate the production of content. A tool that will increase the competition among content producers. But if the platform/content balance remains, it will be the platforms that will reap the benefit of the added content.

So why does all this spell bubble? While I agree that the technology has true potential, I am not sure we need 1,000 companies doing generative images, video, or text. The substitutability among many of them is rather large. Like in the dot com bubble of the early 2000s, we are amidst a Cambrian explosion of firms that will most likely be followed by a mass extinction event. Generative AI may have many potential users, but may not need as many providers. Like it once happened to search, the AI industry will sooner or later start to consolidate. And when it does, it may not be pretty, as the valuations of those being acquired in dire straits may not be the ones that their investors hoped.

I know this is a contrarian take. But I feel the tide is starting to turn. On the mean time, sit back, relax, and enjoy the memes.

[marco grazzi @GrazziMarco]

This is the link to the call: https://t.co/CIfDrCaphz the relevant call is ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE: SECS-P/02 ECONOMIC POLICY

[marco grazzi @GrazziMarco]

🎯 Call for assistant professor in Economic Policy (RTD-A), Univ. Cattolica, Milan

The broad topic is intangibles. By way of examples: innovation (also as incorporated in robots; AI; patents) and employment; green innovation and sustainability, etc
Deadline: March 18th

[marco grazzi @GrazziMarco]

This is the link to the call: https://t.co/CIfDrCaphz the relevant call is ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE: SECS-P/02 ECONOMIC POLICY

[VoxEU @voxeu]

The extended producer responsibility policy improves waste battery collection rates and enhances tracking of trade flows, enhancing the marketisation of waste.
M Compagnoni @UniTrento, @GrazziMarco @Unicatt_en, F Pieri, C Tomasi @UniTrento @LdA_CentroStudi
https://t.co/eDWcO7MGrz

[marco grazzi @GrazziMarco]

The adoption of EPR is followed by a significant increase in exports of waste batteries, mainly to developed countries and countries with higher levels of technological endowments. Improvements are seen in waste-battery collection rates and tracking waste-battery trade flows.

[Fabio Pieri @FabPieri80]

The transition to global circular economies: Waste batteries and extended producer responsibility https://t.co/SkpX5RCiw5 via @cepr_org .
Joint research paper with @GrazziMarco @chiara_tomasi2 and Marco Compagnoni. 👇

[Associazione Newman @newman_it]

🎥 Intervista ad @AndreaAvveduto(@proterrasancta) su "La guerra israelo-palestinese: quali prospettive di pace"
@LPJerusalem #Pace #IsraelPalestineWar #Israele #Palestina #newman
👇
https://t.co/PScanYy48F

[Mikel Landabaso 🐬 @landabaso1]

Prof. Luc Soete: “EU technological dependency is largely self inflicted…a new geography of Industrial Policy driving relocation of energy intensive industries linked to renewables energy generation…we need an innovation based industrial policy at EU level…”⁦⁦@SoeteLuc⁩

[Fabio Pieri @FabPieri80]

📢Official call now open⏰Deadline: November 13, 2023, 12.00 CET.
We are looking for an empirical researcher to study the role of intangibles in the resilience of firms and workers. #EconTwitter #Postdoc
Call, project description and application form: https://t.co/SDNN1eHRf3