--- title: "Long-run effects of technological change: the impact of automation on intergenerational mobility · AI Fault Line" url: https://aifaultline.com/research/p/doi-10-1093-ej-ueag093/ description: "AI Fault Line is a neutral, evidence-cited field guide to why experts looking at the same developments disagree about AI's effect on productivity, jobs, inequality, regulation and the pace of change." --- [Research](https://aifaultline.com/research/) # Long-run effects of technological change: the impact of automation on intergenerational mobility Fredrik Heyman, Martin Olsson · The Economic Journal · 29 Jul 2026 [Read original source](https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueag093) Where this sits in the debate - [Will AI widen inequality?](https://aifaultline.com/debate/inequality/) · its finding supports the claim ([why studies differ](https://aifaultline.com/debate/inequality/#why)) Direction of the finding as read from the abstract by an AI model ([AI-written](https://aifaultline.com/about/)). ## Abstract Abstract We examine how automation affects intergenerational income mobility. Using Swedish register data for parents and children from 1985–2019, we study how parental exposure to robots during the 1990s shaped children’s outcomes up to thirty years later. Combining occupational exposure measures with industry- and firm-level robot adoption, we find that automation reduced children’s income and upward mobility and worsened long-run labour market and educational outcomes. These effects are concentrated among low-income families and appear driven primarily by adverse parental labour market shocks and financial strain. Our findings suggest that technological change can reduce intergenerational mobility and increase long-run inequality. ## About this publication **Leading field journal.** A leading journal in economics or a neighbouring field (on the Tinbergen Institute’s A list or near the top of the RePEc ranking), or a top-rated computer-science venue. Placed by: Tinbergen Institute A list. [How sources are ranked](https://aifaultline.com/about/#source-ranking). Published 2026 (3 months ago) Citations 0 (OpenAlex) 0 citations recorded by OpenAlex — too few 2026 papers in this collection for a fair comparison. [Chart: published 2026] ## More on this topic Related by theme, not necessarily by method or conclusion. - [The Effects of Generative AI on High Skilled Work: Evidence from Three Field Experiments with Software Developers](https://aifaultline.com/research/p/doi-10-2139-ssrn-4945566/) SSRN · 2024 - [GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models](https://aifaultline.com/research/p/doi-10-48550-arxiv-2303-10130/) arXiv · 2023 - [Extending “GPTs Are GPTs” to Firms](https://aifaultline.com/research/p/doi-10-1257-pandp-20251045/) AEA Papers and Proceedings · 2025 - [New Frontiers: The Origins and Content of New Work, 1940–2018](https://aifaultline.com/research/p/doi-10-1093-qje-qjae008/) The Quarterly Journal of Economics · 2024 Overview assembled automatically from collected metadata. [How this site is built](https://aifaultline.com/about/).