Higher education expansion and the adoption of robots in China

IF 4.6 2区经济学 Q1 BUSINESS, FINANCE

Emerging Markets Review Pub Date : 2025-08-12 DOI:10.1016/j.ememar.2025.101354

Gang Qiao , Dongmin Kong , Lihua Liu

引用次数: 0

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of China's 1999 higher education expansion on firm adoption of robots, employing a quasi-natural experiment. Using the difference-in-differences estimation strategy, we find that the surge in college-educated labor from 2003 led firms in human capital-intensive industries to adopt fewer robots, reducing machine-to-human replacement. The effect is stronger in non-SOEs, financially constrained firms, large and high-tech firms, labor-intensive industries, and coastal areas. Mechanism tests suggest cheaper labor and human capital upgrading drive this reduction. These findings emphasize human capital's crucial role in mitigating robot-driven labor displacement and its broader impact on the job market.

查看原文本刊更多论文

中国高等教育的扩张和机器人的采用

本文采用准自然实验研究了1999年中国高等教育扩招对企业采用机器人的影响。利用差中差估计策略，我们发现2003年以来受过大学教育的劳动力激增导致人力资本密集型行业的企业采用更少的机器人，减少了机器对人的替代。这种效应在非国有企业、资金紧张的企业、大型高科技企业、劳动密集型产业和沿海地区更为明显。机制测试表明，劳动力价格下降和人力资本升级推动了这种下降。这些发现强调了人力资本在缓解机器人驱动的劳动力取代及其对就业市场的广泛影响方面的关键作用。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Emerging Markets Review Multiple-

CiteScore

7.10

自引率

4.20%

发文量

审稿时长

100 days

期刊介绍： The intent of the editors is to consolidate Emerging Markets Review as the premier vehicle for publishing high impact empirical and theoretical studies in emerging markets finance. Preference will be given to comparative studies that take global and regional perspectives, detailed single country studies that address critical policy issues and have significant global and regional implications, and papers that address the interactions of national and international financial architecture. We especially welcome papers that take institutional as well as financial perspectives.