{"title":"Displacement of labor by capital: Its implication on stock liquidity","authors":"Jang-Chul Kim, Sharif Mazumder, Qing Su","doi":"10.1111/irfi.70026","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study investigates the impact of firms' potential to automate routine-task labor on stock liquidity. We demonstrate that firms with a high potential for automation (AP), characterized by a significant share of displaceable labor, experience a decline in stock liquidity. Our analysis shows that this association is particularly pronounced during positive technological shocks and heightened product market competition. Using the catastrophic 2011 Thai flooding as an exogenous shock to AP, we find evidence that the relationship between AP and liquidity is likely causal. The findings withstand rigorous testing, encompassing industry-level analysis, propensity score matching, and the utilization of alternative proxies for both displaceable labor and stock liquidity. This examination is augmented by the inclusion of additional control variables. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of the interplay between automation, market dynamics, and liquidity, offering valuable insights for investors, policymakers, and firms navigating the evolving technological innovation landscape.</p>","PeriodicalId":46664,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Finance","volume":"25 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Review of Finance","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/irfi.70026","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BUSINESS, FINANCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study investigates the impact of firms' potential to automate routine-task labor on stock liquidity. We demonstrate that firms with a high potential for automation (AP), characterized by a significant share of displaceable labor, experience a decline in stock liquidity. Our analysis shows that this association is particularly pronounced during positive technological shocks and heightened product market competition. Using the catastrophic 2011 Thai flooding as an exogenous shock to AP, we find evidence that the relationship between AP and liquidity is likely causal. The findings withstand rigorous testing, encompassing industry-level analysis, propensity score matching, and the utilization of alternative proxies for both displaceable labor and stock liquidity. This examination is augmented by the inclusion of additional control variables. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of the interplay between automation, market dynamics, and liquidity, offering valuable insights for investors, policymakers, and firms navigating the evolving technological innovation landscape.
期刊介绍:
The International Review of Finance (IRF) publishes high-quality research on all aspects of financial economics, including traditional areas such as asset pricing, corporate finance, market microstructure, financial intermediation and regulation, financial econometrics, financial engineering and risk management, as well as new areas such as markets and institutions of emerging market economies, especially those in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, the Letters Section in IRF is a premium outlet of letter-length research in all fields of finance. The length of the articles in the Letters Section is limited to a maximum of eight journal pages.