Robots and firms

a column by Michael Koch, Ilya Manuylov and Marcel Smolka for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

The rise of robots has sparked an intense debate about the labour market effects of their adoption.

This column explores differences in robot adoption across firms and analyses the labour market effects of robot adoption at the firm level. It reveals a productivity-enhancing reallocation of labour and market shares across firms, with robot-adopting firms creating new job opportunities and expanding their scale of operations, while non-adopters experience negative output and employment effects in the face of tougher competition.

Continue reading