Essays in Automation and Globalization

This dissertation studies a range of topics in automation and globalization. Chapter 1 studies the role of industrial robots in the US in expanding the occupational wage polarization. Chapter 2 explores the effect of industrial robots in Japan on employment and wages in each industry and region. Chapter 3 investigates the impact of recent growth in multinational enterprises on headquarter country\u27s labor demand and labor share. Chapter 1 studies the distributional and aggregate effects of the rising use of industrial robots across occupations. I construct a novel dataset that tracks the cost of robots from Japan by occupations. The dataset reveals a relative one-standard deviation drop of Japan\u27s robot cost induces a 0.2-0.3¥% drop in the US occupational wages. I develop a general equilibrium model where robots are internationally traded durable goods that may substitute for labor differently across occupations. The elasticities of substitution between robots and labor within an occupation drive the occupation-specific real-wage effects of robotization. I estimate the model using the robot cost shock from my dataset and the optimal instrumental variable implied by the model. I find that the elasticities of substitution between robots and labor are heterogeneous across occupations, and higher than those between general capital goods and labor in production occupations such as welding. The estimated model implies that the industrial robots explain a 0.9 percentage point increase in the 90-50th percentile ratio of US occupational wages, and a 0.2 percentage point increase of the US real income from 1990 to 2007. Chapter 2 explores the impacts of industrial robots on employment in Japan, the country with the longest tradition of robot adoption. We employ a novel data set of robot shipments by destination industry and robot application (specified task) in quantity and unit values. These features allow us to use an identification strategy leveraging the heterogeneous application of robots across industries and heterogeneous price changes across applications. For example, the price drop of welding robots relative to assembling robots induced faster adoption of robots in the automobile industry, which intensively uses welding processes, than in the electric machine industry, which intensively uses assembling process. Our industrial-level and commuting zone-level analyses both indicate that the decline of robot prices increased the number of robots as well as employment, suggesting that robots and labor are grossly complementary in the production process. We compare our estimates with the ones reported by existing studies and propose a mechanism that explains apparent differences between the results. Chapter 3 investigates the impact of multinational enterprises (MNEs) on the source-country labor share. Our model shows that source-country factor demand elasticities with respect to foreign factor prices affect aggregate labor share. To identify these elasticities, we develop an estimator that leverages a foreign factor-productivity shock. We apply this estimator to a unique natural experiment: the 2011 Thailand Floods, which negatively impacted the foreign operation of Japanese MNEs. We employ a uniquely combined Japanese firm- and plant-level microdata and find that the Floods decreased fixed assets in Japan more than employment, suggesting that foreign factor productivity growth reduces Japan\u27s labor share

A Helping Hand for Europe: The Competitive Outlook for the EU Robotics Industry

This report is one of a series resulting from a project entitled ¿Competitiveness by Leveraging Emerging Technologies Economically¿ (COMPLETE), carried out by JRC-IPTS. Each of the COMPLETE studies illustrates in its own right that European companies are active on many fronts of emerging and disruptive ICT technologies and are supplying the market with relevant products and services. Nevertheless, the studies also show that the creation and growth of high tech companies is still very complex and difficult in Europe, and too many economic opportunities seem to escape European initiatives and ownership. COMPLETE helps to illustrate some of the difficulties experienced in different segments of the ICT industry and by growing potential global players. Hopefully, COMPLETE will contribute to a better understanding of the opportunities and help shape better market conditions (financial, labour and product markets) to sustain European competitiveness and economic growth. This report deals with robotics applications in general, and in two specific areas selected because of potential market and EU capability in these areas: robotics applications in SMEs, and robotics safety. It starts by introducing the state of the art in robotics, their applications, market size, value chains and disruptive potential of emerging robotics technologies. For each of the two specific areas, the report describes the EU landscape, potential market, benefits, difficulties, and how these might be overcome. The last chapter draws together the findings of the study, to consider EU competitiveness in robotics, opportunities and policy implications. The work is based on desk research and targeted interviews with industry experts in Europe and beyond. The results were reviewed by experts and in a dedicated workshop.JRC.DDG.J.4-Information Societ

Human Resource Implications of Robotics

The authors contend that the introduction of robots into the workplace is simply another stage in the long history of the automation of production, and that the effects will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary.https://research.upjohn.org/up_press/1133/thumbnail.jp

Technology adoption and the organization of production. The case of digital production technologies

open1noopenguendalina anzolinAnzolin, GUENDALINA MARI

Vision Experts: “Capturing the Holy Grail” Business Plan

This project investigates the potential viability of commercializing robotics software developed by a UBC engineer. The aim of this project is to provide the inventor with a business plan that will act as a tool to help in obtaining funding for the commercialization of this software. Through research and work, it has been concluded that the possibility does exist to use this software as the basis for a successful company. To that end, a business plan is presented with the goal of helping the developer achieve her goals