{"title":"Suppress or let go? The time-varying roles of automation towards labor market","authors":"Jingting Zhang , Zhiru Shi","doi":"10.1016/j.strueco.2025.03.007","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>It has been widely concerned that automation advancements may have imbalanced effects on the labor market, with the excessive unemployment of low-skill workers. To investigate the issue, we design and construct a general equilibrium model, embedded with different types of capital and labor, and a robot tax. The research suggests that it is effective to implement a robot tax to reasonably regulate the development of automation. However, further research shows a negative robot tax or an automation subsidy may be necessary in the long run, especially when considering the low birth rates and aging population. Empirical evidence proves the crowding out effect of automation on the employment of low- and middle-skilled labor, as well as the promotion effect of aging population on automation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47829,"journal":{"name":"Structural Change and Economic Dynamics","volume":"74 ","pages":"Pages 158-174"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Structural Change and Economic Dynamics","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0954349X25000402","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
It has been widely concerned that automation advancements may have imbalanced effects on the labor market, with the excessive unemployment of low-skill workers. To investigate the issue, we design and construct a general equilibrium model, embedded with different types of capital and labor, and a robot tax. The research suggests that it is effective to implement a robot tax to reasonably regulate the development of automation. However, further research shows a negative robot tax or an automation subsidy may be necessary in the long run, especially when considering the low birth rates and aging population. Empirical evidence proves the crowding out effect of automation on the employment of low- and middle-skilled labor, as well as the promotion effect of aging population on automation.
期刊介绍:
Structural Change and Economic Dynamics publishes articles about theoretical, applied and methodological aspects of structural change in economic systems. The journal publishes work analysing dynamics and structural breaks in economic, technological, behavioural and institutional patterns.