The impact of robots in Latin America: Evidence from local labor markets

Irene Brambilla, Andrés César, Guillermo Falcone and Leonardo Gasparini

World Development, 2023, vol. 170, issue C

Abstract: We study the effect of robots on labor markets in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, the major robot users in Latin America, during the period 2004–2016. We exploit spatial and time variations in exposure to robots arising from initial differences in industry specialization across geographic locations and the evolution of robot adoption across industries, to estimate a causal effect of robots on local labor market outcomes. We find that district’s exposure to robots causes a relative deterioration in labor market indicators such us unemployment and labor informality. We document that robots mainly replace formal salaried jobs, affecting young and semi-skilled workers to a greater extent, and that informal employment acts as a buffer that prevents a larger increase in unemployment.

Keywords: Robot adoption; Local labor markets; Latin America; Unemployment; Informality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 J24 J31 J46 O14 O17 R10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Working Paper: The impact of Robots in Latin America: Evidence from Local Labor Markets (2023)
Working Paper: The impact of robots in Latin America: Evidence from local labor markets (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:170:y:2023:i:c:s0305750x2300089x

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106271

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