Growth, Automation and the Long Run Share of Labor

Debraj Ray and Dilip Mookherjee

No 26658, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We provide an argument for long-term automation and decline in the labor income share, driven by capital accumulation rather than technical progress or rising markups. We emphasize a fundamental asymmetry across physical and human capital. An individual can indefinitely replicate her claims on the former, but — after a point — her human endowment cannot be cloned and rescaled in the same way. Then ongoing capital accumulation gives rise to progressive automation, and the share of labor income converges to zero. The displacement of human labor is gradual, and real wages could rise indefinitely. The results extend to endogenous technical change.

JEL-codes: D33 E25 J24 J31 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro, nep-lma, nep-mac and nep-tid
Note: DEV LS PR
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published as Debraj Ray & Dilip Mookherjee, 2021. "Growth, automation, and the long-run share of labor," Review of Economic Dynamics, .

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Related works:
Journal Article: Growth, Automation and the Long-Run Share of Labor (2022)
Working Paper: Growth, Automation, and the Long-Run Share of Labor (2020)
Working Paper: Growth, Automation and the Long Run Share of Labor (2020)
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