Technological Unemployment in the United States: A State-Level Analysis

This paper aims to analyze the relationship between technological change and unemployment across the United States. Building on previous research, I run a two-stage least- squares regression that links technological change to unemployment. Technological change is proxied with commercially-supplied research and development expenditures. I acquire data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on unemployment rates and data from the National Science Foundation on research and development expenditures from 2002-2013 for each state. Control variables include GDP, the minimum wage, education expenditures, violent crime and property crime rates, union coverage, unemployment benefits, and poverty rates. I find evidence that technological change displaces labor in the United States, but the magnitude of the effect is small

The Philosophical Case for Robot Friendship

Friendship is an important part of the good life. While many roboticists are eager to create friend-like robots, many philosophers and ethicists are concerned. They argue that robots cannot really be our friends. Robots can only fake the emotional and behavioural cues we associate with friendship. Consequently, we should resist the drive to create robot friends. In this article, I argue that the philosophical critics are wrong. Using the classic virtue-ideal of friendship, I argue that robots can plausibly be considered our virtue friends - that to do so is philosophically reasonable. Furthermore, I argue that even if you do not think that robots can be our virtue friends, they can fulfil other important friendship roles, and can complement and enhance the virtue friendships between human beings

The impact of technological progress on the labour market

One of the major challenges, if not the crucial one, that politicians and governments will face in the next years is the relationship between technological progress and the social exclusion of those who are neglected by the system of social guarantees that the welfare State is still able to ensure. In this article, I analyse through a critical theory approach how technology becomes a purpose, the impact of technology on the job market and its consequences. I try to provoke some ethical reflection on uncontrolled technological progress and on the role of the man in the next years. The future of the labour market will be changed by a series of factors, some of the most important being shifting demographics, dynamic workforces, the rise of individual choice and especially the technological revolution. Of course, these arguments doesn’t mean that technological progress should stop or that I am against technological progress, especially because there are areas where innovations are lifesaving, or reducing casualties in the battlefield or reducing car incidents. The purpose of this  research is to question what will be the role of man in the world

An evaluative conservative case for biomedical enhancement

It is widely believed that a conservative moral outlook is opposed to biomedical forms of human enhancement. In this paper, I argue that this widespread belief is incorrect. Using Cohen’s evaluative conservatism as my starting point, I argue that there are strong conservative reasons to prioritise the development of biomedical enhancements. In particular, I suggest that biomedical enhancement may be essential if we are to maintain our current evaluative equilibrium (i.e. the set of values that undergird and permeate our current political, economic, and personal lives) against the threats to that equilibrium posed by external, non-biomedical forms of enhancement. I defend this view against modest conservatives who insist that biomedical enhancements pose a greater risk to our current evaluative equilibrium, and against those who see no principled distinction between the forms of human enhancement

Influence of artificial intelligence on public employment and its impact on politics: A systematic literature review

Goal:Public administration is constantly changing in response to new challenges, including the implementation of new technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence (AI). This new dynamic has caught the attention of political leaders who are finding ways to restrain or regulate AI in public services, but also of scholars who are raising legitimate concerns about its impacts on public employment. In light of the above, the aim of this research is to analyze the influence of AI on public employment and the ways politics are reacting. Design / Methodology / Approach: We have performed a systematic literature review to disclose the state-of-the-art and to find new avenues for future research. Results: The results indicate that public services require four kinds of intelligence – mechanical, analytical, intuitive, and empathetic – albeit, with much less expression than in private services. Limitations of the investigation: This systematic review provides a snapshot of the influence of AI on public employment. Thus, our research does not cover the whole body of knowledge, but it presents a holistic understanding of the phenomenon. Practical implications: As private companies are typically more advanced in the implementation of AI technologies, the for-profit sector may provide significant contributions in the way states can leverage public services through the deployment of AI technologies. Originality / Value: This article highlights the need for states to create the necessary conditions to legislate and regulate key technological advances, which, in our opinion, has been done, but at a very slow pace.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Automation, Work and the Achievement Gap

Rapid advances in AI-based automation have led to a number of existential and economic concerns. In particular, as automating technologies develop enhanced competency they seem to threaten the values associated with meaningful work. In this article, we focus on one such value: the value of achievement. We argue that achievement is a key part of what makes work meaningful and that advances in AI and automation give rise to a number achievement gaps in the workplace. This could limit people’s ability to participate in meaningful forms of work. Achievement gaps are interesting, in part, because they are the inverse of the (negative) responsibility gaps already widely discussed in the literature on AI ethics. Having described and explained the problem of achievement gaps, the article concludes by identifying four possible policy responses to the problem

Essays on Economic Inequalities

This work relates to income inequalities studied from two different perspectives: ICT innovation (Chapter 1-2) and bargaining among social groups (Chapter 3-4). ICT innovation affects the number of jobs but also the structure of the labor market, with important consequences on income distribution. ICT innovation could destroy more jobs than it creates, for the first time since the beginning of industrialization; meanwhile the advanced ICT softwares are reducing that professions typically associated with the middle class, in favor of those that lies to the extremes of pays. On the other hand, the ability of each social group to attract resources is a second source of movements in income distribution; in particular, bargaining can take place within each company (firms versus trade-unions) and within the government (political parties competing to impose welfare regime). In Chapter 1 we estimate the effect of internet revolution on the number of jobs. The fourth industrial revolution, which began with the rise of internet technology, is now seeing the development of increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence software. One consequence of such development is the ever-more serious risk posed for jobs. Chapter 1 shall examine this phenomenon in three steps; first, we shall empirically show that productivity growth over the last two decades was led by ICT; secondly, we shall discuss whether these productivity gains have affected the structure of employment by examining the data coming from 16 OECD countries and how such outcomes may be linked to innovation in ICT. Finally, a forecasting logistic model on the evolution of employment will be provided, projecting that by 2040-50 unemployment and atypical forms of work will affect 60% of the workforce in most of the countries observed. In Chapter 2 we observe the structure of job market over the last 25 years in order to find which professions have expanded and which ones have reduced and then we link this outcome to middle class thinning and the consequent income inequality growth. The underlying hypothesis is that ICT innovations are changing job structures, at least in the most industrialized countries. Firstly, this chapter takes the studies of Acemoglu and Autor (2010) and Goos et al. (2009) as a starting point and then updates their results for 16 European countries. The outcome we have found is an accentuation of the dynamics already observed in the literature. On the one hand, the number of non-routine jobs has increased while routine ones (both skilled and non-skilled) have become fewer; on the other hand, while the number of both low-paid and high-paid jobs has risen, those with average compensation have fallen almost everywhere. The consequence is a progressive thinning of the middle class and a change in income distribution among Western populations. Secondly, Chapter 2 links these findings with the recent intensification of the populist phenomenon. We shall be discussing an original theory, consistent both with the literature and with the empirical evidence, which describes the populist origins and its future prospects. In Chapter 3 shift our consideration to the social dynamic of inequalities. Income inequalities increase and decrease according to the capability of each social group in appropriating the national added value. The final outcome of this partition may be seen reflected on the price level. The lasting debate about the origins of inflation has determined two opposing approaches: monetarism and bargaining. The aim of Chapter 3 is to put these aspects together in an innovative synthesis. To investigate this item, we used an Input-Output (IO) approach and we developed an original mathematical process to define the real price index variations. After that, we tested this theoretical definition with an empirical study on Italian inflation over 30 years where we elaborated 31 official I-O tables compiled by the Italian statistics bureau (ISTAT). By this verified definition, inflation is strictly due to the level of wages and profits. This level, in turn, depends both on monetary government intervention (monetarist approach) and on collective bargaining among trade-unions and stakeholders (classic bargaining approach). Finally, by this model, theoretical implications are derived and summed up in six different settings ceteris paribus. Finally, in Chapter 4 we link income inequalities to Health Systems in a European perspective. With a sociological slant, we compare European countries in the context of neoliberal era, focusing on healthy life years for elderly (HLY65+). Firstly, we outline the theoretical state of the art in the literature on health inequalities, stressing the important relationship that links health inequalities to geographic area. In the second part of Chapter 4 we observe data relating to the changes of HLY65+ in the European member states and we correlate these results with the income inequality measured by the Gini index. The last part of Chapter 4 advance some comments on health inequalities in the context of the neoliberal era and in relation to geographic place and welfare policies

A mesterséges intelligencia munkaerő-piaci hatásai Hogyan készüljünk fel?

A mesterséges intelligencia (MI) jelentősen átalakítja a munkaerőpiacot, mely szinte észrevétlenül zajlik napjainkban. Az üzleti tanácsadó cégek és a technológiai cégek együttesen ösztönzik az MI-megoldások terjedését, azok vitathatatlan előnyeire hivatkozva. Azonban magával az MI fogalmával kevesen vannak tisztában. Továbbá a munkaerőpiaci hatások sem egyértelműek. Ezért a szerzők szisztematikus szakirodalmi áttekintésük során e kutatási rés betöltésére, és további kutatások megalapozására törekedtek. Eredményeik részletesen bemutatják a technológiai munkanélküliség (f)okozóit, illetve azokat a mechanizmusokat, amelyek azt önműködő módon, vagy éppen tudatos beavatkozással ellensúlyozhatják. Elengedhetetlen az MI hatásaira mind egyéni, mind vállalati, mind kormányzati szinten már most felkészülni, ebben segít a jelen cikk

The strategic impacts of Intelligent Automation for knowledge and service work : An interdisciplinary review

We would like to thank Professor Jarvenpaa and the review team for all the constructive comments and suggestions that were most helpful in revising the paper and in offering a stronger contribution. We would also like to thank Professor Guy Fitzgerald for his constructive comments on earlier versions of the paper. This study was funded by the Chartered Institute of Professional Development (CIPD). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the CIPD.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The fourth industrial revolution and human capital development

The focus of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has been on its implications on Human Capital and its need to develop “21st-Century Skills" through education to ensure future labour and capital complementarity. Human Capital combined with 21st-Century Skills, it is claimed, can together generate economic growth, jobs and propel an economy into the next Industrial Revolution. However, Schwab’s (2016) concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, make no distinction between the Average Worker and the Knowledge Elite and their relationship to each other and successful economic growth. The different nature of these skills is absent in the literature to date. A critical analysis of literature will be used to examine Schwab’s (2016) claim of a Fourth Industrial Revolution and assess how the Average Worker and the Knowledge Elite relate to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and 21st-Century Skills. The evidence is provided on how both the Average Worker and the Knowledge Elite are key contributors to economic growth and will be important in the Fourth Industrial Revolution