Open AccessAutomation and productivity—a cross-country, cross-industry comparison
Author(s) -
Lene Kromann,
Nikolaj MalchowMøller,
Jan Rose Skaksen,
Anders Sørensen
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
industrial and corporate change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.511
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1464-3650
pISSN - 0960-6491
DOI - 10.1093/icc/dtz039
Subject(s) - cross country , productivity , automation , industrial organization , economics , business , agricultural economics , engineering , macroeconomics , international economics , mechanical engineering
We investigate the effects of automation on total factor productivity (TFP). Using industry-level panel data for nine countries, we find that more intensive use of industrial robots has a significantly positive effect on TFP. Specifically, an increase of one standard deviation in the robot intensity is associated with more than 6% higher TFP. Moreover, we find that the robot intensity increases with Chinese import competition and that automation is associated with higher wages and unchanged or higher employment.
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