I've agreed with this conclusion for a while: the decline in labor's share of income is mostly due to automation, broadly construed. And this has probably been a consistent trend back through human history, and beyond.
E.g. when deciding whether to cooperate with, or murder, your fellow homo erectus, murder becomes more attractive if they had a hand axe that you could just take and use yourself just as well.
The trend is just nonlinear and that is becoming more obvious as it approaches the asymptote.
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gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/07/opinion/labor-capitol-wor...
I've agreed with this conclusion for a while: the decline in labor's share of income is mostly due to automation, broadly construed. And this has probably been a consistent trend back through human history, and beyond.
E.g. when deciding whether to cooperate with, or murder, your fellow homo erectus, murder becomes more attractive if they had a hand axe that you could just take and use yourself just as well.
The trend is just nonlinear and that is becoming more obvious as it approaches the asymptote.
It's not "automation"—it's lack of ownership over the firm, such that automation gains pass us by.
It's obviously Capital that gains, and Labor that's screwed.