Robots are not always bad for employment and wages

Tiago Sequeira, Susana Garrido and Marcelo Santos

International Economics, 2021, vol. 167, issue C, 108-119

Abstract: We reassess the impact that robotization has on wages and employment, using a database on US commuting zones from 1990 to 2007. Using an argument based on the transitional dynamics we show that the negative displacement effects of robotization can be surpassed by productivity and reallocation effects, leading to positive effects on employment after a certain level of penetration in industry. In fact, we confirm this effect through regressions that are subject to different robustness checks. Previous evidence according to which robotization always decreases employment and wages are thus not confirmed.

Keywords: Robots; Employment; Fourth industrial revolution; Nonlinear effects of robots (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 J24 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:inteco:v:167:y:2021:i:c:p:108-119

DOI: 10.1016/j.inteco.2021.06.001

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