Robots, Growth & Inequality
IMF Blog, September 7, 2016
Source details
- Canonical URL
- Robots, Growth & Inequality
Other formats
Bibliographic details
- Authors: iMFdirect
- Published: September 7, 2016
Context and publication
- Publication: iMFdirect blog post titled "Robots, Growth & Inequality"
- Date: September 7, 2016
- Format: Podcast interview with IMF economist Andy Berg
- Related work: Berg is coauthor of "Robots, Growth, and Inequality" published in the September 2016 edition of Finance & Development magazine.
Core findings and framing from the interview
- Technological progress and robots can become near-perfect substitutes for human labor.
- When sufficiently productive capital (robots) is introduced, robots "take over."
- Productivity outcomes:
- Productivity increases.
- Labor and distributional outcomes:
- Wages fall.
- Inequality rises because the owners of robots (capital) capture most of the income and do virtually all the consumption.
- Historical framing on technology and living standards:
- "Now, the average American worker works 17 weeks to attain the same standard of living that a worker in 1915 would have had to work a year to get."
Implications emphasized in the interview
- The spread of advanced robotics could generate broad gains in productivity but produce a "scary picture" on distribution, with capital owners benefiting disproportionately.
- Distributional consequences are central: rising inequality driven by capital ownership rather than labor income.
Access
- The interview is available as a podcast (SoundCloud embed referenced in the original page).
Source: IMF iMFdirect blog post "Robots, Growth & Inequality", September 7, 2016.