Don't draw lines through one data point. We have no idea which features of economic disruptions of this scale are general and which are incidental. What we do k

Don't draw lines through one data point. We have no idea which features of economic disruptions of this scale are general and which are incidental. What we do know is a large, prosperous middle class is a historical aberration. It also seems that automation has little in common with mechanization, because automation replaces mental labor. It is not obvious that new industries will create more employees than they replace. Perhaps new industries will advance in lock-step with new automation systems. Gregory Clark compares the modern worker not to farmers before the industrial revolution, but to horses before the widespread adoption of the car. The 'wages' of the workhorses fell below subsistence level. Perhaps the wages of people will, too.