How Technology Reshapes Economic Power and Access

About this event

Please join us for a talk given by Ruoning Han, Ralph C. Rittenour, Jr. Assistant Professor of Economics.

This lecture explores how technology restructures economic power and access, particularly through financial innovations that can bypass or reduce reliance on traditional financial intermediaries. We will examine specific financial developments, focusing on how each alters capital allocation and financial decision-making through data, screening, and algorithms, and how they shape payment systems. We then evaluate whether these developments decentralize economic power and expand access, or whether they simply repackage power in new technological forms.