Webinar: Robot Imports and Firm-Level Outcomes

25  February 2021    3:00 pm CET

Rosario Crinò, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

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Venue

Online event - See registration link below

Description

The presentation is based on a paper co-authored with Alessandra Bonfiglioli, Harald Fadinger and Gino Gancia.

Rosario Crinò

We use French data over the 1994-2013 period to study how imports of industrial robots affect firm-level outcomes. Compared to other firms operating in the same 5-digit sector, robot importers are larger, more productive, and employ a higher share of managers and engineers. Over time, robot import occurs after periods of expansion in firm size, and is followed by improvements in efficiency and a fall in demand for labor. Guided by a simple model, we develop various empirical strategies to identify the causal effects of robot adoption. Our results suggest that, while demand shocks generate a positive correlation between robot imports and employment, exogenous changes in automation lead to job losses. We also find that robot imports increase productivity and the employment share of high-skill professions, but have a weak effect on total sales. The latter result suggests that productivity gains from automation may not be entirely passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices.

The presentation, when available, will be posted online after the webinar.

Registration link: https://my.demio.com/ref/ONqvCLkky93dkzsO
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Rosario Crinò is Professor of Economics at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. Previously, he was Post-Doc Researcher at the Institute of Economic Analysis-CSIC in Barcelona and Assistant Professor at CEMFI in Madrid. He is Research Fellow of CEPR and CESifo. His research deals with the effects of globalization on labor market, innovation and firm performance.

Related publications

  • Acemoglu, Daron, Claire Lelarge and Pascual Restrepo (2020). "Competing with Robots: Firm-Level Evidence from France," American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, forthcoming.
  • Acemoglu, Daron and Pascual Restrepo (2019). "Robots and Jobs: Evidence from the US Labor Markets," Journal of Political Economy, forthcoming.
  • Graetz, Georg, and Guy Michaels (2018). "Robots at Work," Review of Economics and Statistics 100(5): 753--68.

Keywords: Automation, Displacement, Firms, Robots

JEL classification: J23, J24, O33, D22

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