Tag: consumption

Study: Slowing Automation Can Have Economic Benefits

Study: Slowing Automation Can Have Economic Benefits

Robots, artificial intelligence and other automation technologies allow companies to produce more. They also displace workers from their jobs, wreaking havoc on those who have no other training and are financially vulnerable.

Research from Dartmouth and Massachusetts Institute of Technology economists featured in this week’s edition National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Working Papers claims that the speed of automation is excessive and should be cut in half.

“Companies do not necessarily take into account the consequences of automation on their workers. Instead, they tend to focus on the value automation will bring to the company and its shareholders,” says co-author […]

The Problem with Blaming Robots For Taking Our Jobs

The Problem with Blaming Robots For Taking Our Jobs

In the late nineteen-forties, Delmar Harder, a vice-president at Ford, popularized the term “automation”—a “nickname,” he said, for the increased mechanization at the company’s Detroit factory. Harder was mostly talking about the automatic transfer of car parts between machines, but the concept soon grew legs—and sometimes a robotic arm—to encompass a range of practices and possibilities.

From the immediate postwar years to the late nineteen-sixties, America underwent what we might call an automation boom, not only in the automotive sector but in most heavy-manufacturing industries. As new technology made factory work more efficient, it also rendered factory workers redundant, often […]

The Problem with Blaming Robots For Taking Our Jobs

The Problem with Blaming Robots For Taking Our Jobs

In the late nineteen-forties, Delmar Harder, a vice-president at Ford, popularized the term “automation”—a “nickname,” he said, for the increased mechanization at the company’s Detroit factory. Harder was mostly talking about the automatic transfer of car parts between machines, but the concept soon grew legs—and sometimes a robotic arm—to encompass a range of practices and possibilities.

From the immediate postwar years to the late nineteen-sixties, America underwent what we might call an automation boom, not only in the automotive sector but in most heavy-manufacturing industries. As new technology made factory work more efficient, it also rendered factory workers redundant, often […]

Automation and Offshoring in Durable Goods Manufacturing: An Indiana Case Study

The loss of manufacturing jobs is largely attributed to either offshoring or automation. Using state-level data from the Annual Survey of Manufactures and unit record administrative data from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, we determine the drivers of durable goods manufacturing employment losses in Indiana. We test a simple model that explains changes in industry production employment by changes in output, wages, intermediate input consumption, productivity, capital-to-labor ratios, or a proxy related to these explanatory variables. Using the unit record data, the authors assess the consequences of large layoff events on the wages of those who remain employed […]

Education at the forefront of India’s rising complexity

Education at the forefront of India’s rising complexity

Economist Ricardo Hausmann suggests that prosperity arises from economic complexity and economic development is like a game of Scrabble. The private sector provides the letters (more of which enable more and longer words), and the government provides the vowels. Higher wages for workers arise from more words (more firms competing for talent), longer words (high-productivity firms and sectors) and more vowels (effective public goods). We make the case that our economic complexity, popularly associated with 5 million software jobs, will leap in the next five years as 12 million new jobs in engineering, telecom and healthcare combine with the […]

Government of Canada announces investment of over $860K in six businesses under Innovative Solutions Canada program

Government of Canada announces investment of over $860K in six businesses under Innovative Solutions Canada program

Ag News File Photo On Tuesday, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau, announced an investment of over $860,000 in six businesses under the Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) program.

“These projects are supporting Canadian agricultural technology companies as they develop innovative solutions to help farmers reduce waste, conserve resources and improve efficiency. By investing in innovation and technology, Canadian agriculture will continue to pave the way for new ideas and methods to keep Canadian agriculture strong and well-positioned for the future,” said Bibeau.

A total of six small businesses are reach receiving up to $150,000 to advance automation and robotic technologies […]

Automation Vs. Augmentation: Come l’innovazione influisce sul lavoro

FILIPPO RASCHIA, VISITING STUDENT DI IGIER, RACCONTA IL SEMINARIO DI DAVID AUTOR (MIT) SULLA NASCITA DI NUOVI LAVORI

Automation is a major new force in our society, and it exerts conflicting effects. On the one hand, automation erodes the importance of certain human skills. On the other hand, it complements human labor by letting new work tasks emerge. What is the overall effect on the types of job created and the overall structure of employment? This is the main question that professors David Autor , Anna Salomons and Bryan Seegmiller tried to answer in their recent paper “New Frontiers: The […]

Setting Yourself Up for Future Robotics Industry Success

Setting Yourself Up for Future Robotics Industry Success

Source: Jori Hamilton It’s no secret that industrial manufacturing is changing. Robotics has shifted the field. Now, experts debate whether these instruments in manufacturing will create more jobs than they displace, with 52% believing so .

Regardless, our workforce needs new skills to thrive in the age of automation. Robots have become a staple of industrial manufacturing, and the increasing adoption of this technology means that manufacturing will continue to rely on robotics professionals for success.

That said, those interested in entering the robotics field must be prepared with an understanding of the direction of the industry and the skills needed […]

Dangers of unregulated artificial intelligence

Dangers of unregulated artificial intelligence

Over the last decade, artificial intelligence has made great advances and influenced almost all industries. This column argues that the current AI technologies are more likely to generate various adverse social consequences, rather than the promised gains. It provides examples of the potential dangers for product markets, labour markets, and democratic institutions, and emphasises that the main problem is not AI itself, but the way leading firms are approaching data and their use. Policy should thus be focused on redirecting technological change to create new capabilities and opportunities for workers and citizens.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is often touted as the […]

Warehouses rely on more robotics to increase turnaround and reduce costs

Warehouses rely on more robotics to increase turnaround and reduce costs

Robotics are increasingly being used to improve warehouse production

Warehouses are experimenting with innovative new automation solutions, and robotics is coming out on top. A recent study found that investment in warehouse robotics increased by a staggering 57% in the first quarter of 2020. This is a clear indication of where the warehouse automation industry is going. While Industry 4.0 has been setting in for a few years now, robotics for automation stepped into the mainstream during 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic forced many warehouses to consider new technology for meeting demand while working with fewer employees at once.

Robotics […]