Tag: consumption

Does Automation Kill Jobs? Nope—But Offshoring Does

Does Automation Kill Jobs? Nope—But Offshoring Does

Baxter automated assembly line robot Automation Isn’t The Job Killer It’s Cracked Up To Be

CNN says automation is to blame for America’s manufacturing job losses; and what’s worse, there’s more to come —and no, it has absolutely nothing to do with bad trade deals like NAFTA, nor China’s predatory trading strategy.

Nope. Nothing to see here people. Move along.Automation is bad, and your jobs are never coming back. This view was echoed recently by the Guardian too.Of course, this is all just fake news—CNN has to earn its reputation somehow.In reality, automation is only half the story : […]

Make in India: Importance of Robotics in the manufacturing segment, and how it can still create jobs

Make in India: Importance of Robotics in the manufacturing segment, and how it can still create jobs

Image: Reuters By Somshubhro Pal Choudhury and Anil Paranjape

Editor’s Note: This is part 2 of a two-part series on the role of productivity in making ‘Make In India’ a successful program. You can read Part 1 here .

Case for Robotics in Industry 4.0 Automation and robotics technologies are in their infancy in Indian medium-size factories since technical feasibility and return on investment (RoI) are preconditions for deployment. Factories review RoI basis a 2-3 year horizon, which becomes a difficult RoI with the cheap cost of labor.RoI needs to be examined basis higher output levels, better […]

Trump Can’t Bring Back All Those Jobs From China. Here’s What He Can Do

Trump Can't Bring Back All Those Jobs From China. Here's What He Can Do

This picture taken on Dec. 14, 2016, at a news stand in Shanghai shows an advertisement for a magazine featuring Donald Trump, who would soon take office as president, on the cover. Donald Trump’s rhetoric on China and trade has been blunt, to say the least.

"We can’t continue to allow China to rape our country — and that’s what they’re doing," he said at a May 2016 campaign rally . "It’s the greatest theft in the history of the world."

His tone was a bit more measured leading up to his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping , though the […]

Will automation take away all our jobs?

Will automation take away all our jobs?

With all the doom and gloom messages about robots taking all our jobs in the future, this article by Economist, David Autor, is a good reality check on this perspective. The good news is, history suggests, we will find new and interesting things to do for work, we just can’t imagine them yet. For job seekers and students the message is clear, continue to build your skill sets and ensure you able to adapt to change, or you might be left behind.

Probably not. But if we want a future where more of those jobs are decent and well-paying, […]

The Rise of the Robots, Reviewed

The Rise of the Robots, Reviewed

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of reviews of books, written anytime, anyplace, fiction or nonfiction, that help us to understand contemporary trends in the city. Got an idea for a book that you think puts Dublin in context? Email us at arts@dublininquirer.com.

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At the Spar on Camden Street, a machine makes my coffee. At the Tesco up the way, another machine sells me my groceries. At the Bank of Ireland, a little further on, I can withdraw or deposit money through another machine.All these tasks were once performed by people, who were paid […]

On Automated Future, Treasury Secretary is ‘Out of Touch’

On Automated Future, Treasury Secretary is 'Out of Touch'

Last week, President Donald Trump’s New Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said he’s “not worried at all” about automation , stirring up a lot of controversy. Then, on Tuesday, in an interview on CNBC, Democratic Powerbroker and entrepreneur, also neighbor to Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Jeff Greene explained his world views, saying that Mnunchin is “completely out of touch with reality.”

“I think he’s sort of missing it on the business thing,” Greene said. “I mean, 88 percent of manufacturing jobs were lost because of technology. So, to build a wall and keep Mexicans or Latin Americans out of the […]

Tech will lead to new sub-prime crunch

Tech will lead to new sub-prime crunch

In October 2016, two leading P2P platforms in the U.S. — Lending Club and Prosper — announced a new increase in interest rates for lower-grade loans. The decision was made in order to sustain investor demand, as the model platforms are operating under challenges faced during the last months due to compliance issues with Lending Club and the general turbulence of the P2P lending industry.

However, keeping the investor demand stable is not the only reason for recent changes — as Lending Club announced, delinquencies are growing, especially when it comes to high-risk loans.

October 2016 was not the first time […]

A simple way to see why Trump’s climate order won’t bring back many coal jobs

A simple way to see why Trump’s climate order won’t bring back many coal jobs

A train loaded with coal in Williamson, West Virginia. One of the big justifications the Trump administration is using to dismantle US climate policies is that these moves would help reverse the collapse of the coal industry and bring back mining jobs.

“Will it bring back coal jobs? I think absolutely it will,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said on Sunday, of Trump’s new executive order.

I’ve explained in the past why this is probably wrong — coal mining employment is in decline for a wide variety of reasons: automation of mining; competition from cheap natural gas in the power sector; collapsing […]

Automation and the prospects of economic development

Automation and the prospects of economic development

Technological anxiety has been with us since the first modern industries appeared. The angst toward new technologies is mainly about the fear of widespread substitution and displacement of human labor by machines. Historical experiences in early industrialization have shown that new technologies used in production initially had disruptive effects to labor and existing production assets. However, new technologies also ushered in the birth of new industries, created new jobs, becoming the source of productivity, economic growth and development.

Automation, like most new labor-saving technologies, has an effect of raising the comparative advantage and value of jobs that only humans can […]

The optimist’s guide to the robot apocalypse

The optimist’s guide to the robot apocalypse

Machines, you may have heard, are coming for all the jobs.

Robots flip burgers and work warehouses . Artificial intelligence handles insurance claims and basic bookkeeping , manages investment portfolios , does legal research , and performs basic HR tasks . Human labor doesn’t stand a chance against them—after the “ automation apocalypse ,” only those with spectacular abilities and the owners of the robots will thrive.

Or at least, that’s one plausible and completely valid theory. But before you start campaigning for a universal basic income and set up a bunker , you might want to also familiarize yourself with […]