Austan Goolsbee

And if you add the AI thing on top of it,

If AI leads to fewer jobs overall, which I still want to caution you, my inner economist says that has not been the path of even major technological breakthroughs.

It's so common that there's even a name for it, the lump of labor fallacy, that there's a fixed number of jobs.

And once a technology can do these jobs better than the people do them now,

the unemployment rate will go to 100%.

I fundamentally don't think that's what will happen.

But if it did in the short run lead to fewer jobs, there is a sense in which that is a structural change that redefines maximum employment in the short run.

And for sure, the Fed cutting the overnight interest rate is not going to change that.

No, it is like the NFL.

It's a cool feature.

Only we're the winners.

Chicago is the Super Bowl champion.

You're going on our book cover.

Okay, look, super important question, often phrased to me one of two ways.

Why does Chicago have a Fed?

Or what do you do all day?

Like, what is that?

In 1913, they passed the Federal Reserve Act.

And in 1913, as today,

people were deeply uncomfortable with the idea that the federal government, plus maybe the Wall Street banks, would control the entire US financial system with no input from the rest of the country.