The adjacent possible

I really enjoyed this episode of Odd Lots with Dr. Ricardo Hausmann discussing the Atlas of Economic Complexity.

I had heard the term before, but hearing Dr. Hausmann describe how countries navigate the product space really brought it to life for me. It's a concept with a ton of richness not just for countries but also companies and even personal growth (running a 10k is in my adjacent possible, running a marathon is not).

One moment that stood out to me was right at the end when Joe Weisenthal asks how the US is doing and Dr. Hausmann actually says our economic complexity is falling and the guests just sort of blow right past it. Talk about a missed opportunity!

My hypothesis would be that the US is increasingly a market for consumers where the production work happens elsewhere. From an adjacent possible perspective, this is a bit dangerous because by not doing these activities we lose access to the adjacent possible.

2023-08-16