NBER Working Paper Series
Working Paper No. 35437
Date of Publication:
July 2026
"Artificial intelligence will probably generate major changes in the US economy, although the
nature, timing, and magnitude of those changes are highly uncertain. We analyze a set of long-term
scenarios involving different combinations of faster productivity growth, greater income
inequality, job displacement, and a higher capital share of income. For each scenario, we assess the
implications for federal debt and potential policy responses related to faster economic growth, the
distribution of income, support for workers who are laid off, and taxation and ownership of capital.
Given the uncertainty surrounding AI’s economic effects, policies that are robust to different
scenarios would be especially valuable."
Citations
Dynan, Karen, Douglas Elmendorf, and Louise Sheiner. 2026. How Might Fiscal Policy Respond to the Rise of Artificial Intelligence? NBER Working Paper No. 35437 (July). https://doi.org/10.3386/w35437