International Economics

<< N°167

  N°167  
Issue Q3 2021  
Robots are not always bad for employment and wages  
Tiago Neves Sequeira
Susana Garrido
Marcelo Santos
 
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.
Abstract

   
Robots ; Employment ; Fourth industrial revolution ; Nonlinear effects of robots ; Keywords
J23 ; J24 ; O33 ; JEL classification
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