Permanent technological unemployment reconsidered

Abstract

This thesis consists primarily of a critical review of recent literature on the subject of the employment effects of technological change. The analysis of this literature is derived from a 1942 article by Hans P. Neisser, directed against the orthodox denials of the possibility that technological progress could cause "permanent" or unreabsorbed displacement of labour. Arguments classified under one of the Say's Law, neoclassical, or wage fund schools are examined using the Neisser framework. As a secondary aspect, some elaboration is undertaken of the process by which uncompensated technological unemployment could arise. The main conclusion made is that, in agreement with Neisser's appraisal of the literature of his time, modern economic analysis is not able to refute the theoretical possibility that technological change can lead to the creation of a persistent pool of unemployed labour as outlined a by the Marxian schema