Artificial intelligence, jobs, inequality and productivity: does aggregate demand matter?

"Rapid technological progress in artificial intelligence (AI) has been predicted to lead to mass unemployment, rising inequality, and higher productivity growth through automation. In this paper we critically re-assess these predictions by (i) surveying the recent literature and (ii) incorporat...

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Main Authors: Gries, Thomas, Naudé, Wim
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: Bonn 2018
IZA
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19306987124911241699-artificial-intelligence,-jobs,.htm
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author Gries, Thomas
Naudé, Wim
author_facet Gries, Thomas
Naudé, Wim
collection Library items
description "Rapid technological progress in artificial intelligence (AI) has been predicted to lead to mass unemployment, rising inequality, and higher productivity growth through automation. In this paper we critically re-assess these predictions by (i) surveying the recent literature and (ii) incorporating AI-facilitated automation into a product variety-model, frequently used in endogenous growth theory, but modified to allow for demand-side constraints. This is a novel approach, given that endogenous growth models, and including most recent work on AI in economic growth, are largely supply-driven. Our contribution is motivated by two reasons. One is that there are still only very few theoretical models of economic growth that incorporate AI, and moreover an absence of growth models with AI that takes into consideration growth constraints due to insufficient aggregate demand. A second is that the predictions of AI causing massive job losses and faster growth in productivity and GDP are at odds with reality so far: if anything, unemployment in many advanced economies is historically low. However, wage growth and productivity is stagnating and inequality is rising. Our paper provides a theoretical explanation of this in the context of rapid progress in AI."
format TEXT
geographic Europe
USA
id 19306987124911241699_b7f9e3f52ed34b46b9b43c45ea2fb666
institution ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
is_hierarchy_id 19306987124911241699_b7f9e3f52ed34b46b9b43c45ea2fb666
is_hierarchy_title Artificial intelligence, jobs, inequality and productivity: does aggregate demand matter?
language English
physical 36 p.
Digital
publishDate 2018
publisher Bonn
IZA
spellingShingle Gries, Thomas
Naudé, Wim
artificial intelligence
technological change
economic growth
productivity
unemployment
labour market
social inequality
automation
Artificial intelligence, jobs, inequality and productivity: does aggregate demand matter?
thumbnail https://www.labourline.org/Image_prev.jpg?Archive=137274695545
title Artificial intelligence, jobs, inequality and productivity: does aggregate demand matter?
topic artificial intelligence
technological change
economic growth
productivity
unemployment
labour market
social inequality
automation
url https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19306987124911241699-artificial-intelligence,-jobs,.htm