Unpacking Skill Bias: Automation and New Tasks

Daron Acemoglu and Pascual Restrepo

AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2020, vol. 110, 356-61

Abstract: We extend the canonical model of skill-biased technical change by modeling the allocation of tasks to factors and allowing for automation and the creation of new tasks. In our model, factor prices depend on the set of tasks they perform. Automation can reduce real wages and generate sizable changes in inequality associated with small productivity gains. New tasks can increase or reduce inequality depending on whether they are performed by skilled or unskilled workers. Industry-level data suggest that automation significantly contributed to the rising skill premium, while new tasks reduced inequality in the past but have contributed to inequality recently.

JEL-codes: D31 I26 J24 J31 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

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Working Paper: Unpacking Skill Bias: Automation and New Tasks (2020)
Working Paper: Unpacking Skill Bias: Automation and New Tasks (2020)
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DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20201063

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