Nicholas Bloom is a professor of economics at Stanford University and is the co-director of the Productivity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Today, Nick joins the show to discuss his work on the causes and effects of economic uncertainty as well as how to measure uncertainty in an economy. David and Nick also discuss why productivity has slowed down in recent decades and why Nick is not especially optimistic that productivity will really improve anytime soon. David's blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com/ Macro Musings podcast site: macromusings.com David's Twitter: @DavidBeckworth Nick Bloom's Stanford University profile: https://people.stanford.edu/nbloom/ Related links: The Economic Policy Uncertainty Index http://www.policyuncertainty.com/ "Fluctuations in Uncertainty" by Nicholas Bloom http://www.nber.org/papers/w19714.pdf "Why has US Policy Uncertainty Risen since 1960?" by Scott R. Baker, Nicholas Bloom, Brandice Canes-Wrone, Steven J. Davis, and Jonathan Rodden https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.104.5.56