Automation: Theory, Evidence, and Outlook
Pascual Restrepo · Annual Review of Economics · 25 Apr 2024
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Where this sits in the debate
- Will AI actually boost productivity and growth? · its finding: it depends (why studies differ)
- Will AI destroy more jobs than it creates? · its finding: it depends (why studies differ)
- Will AI widen inequality?
Direction of the finding as read from the abstract by an AI model (AI-written).
Abstract
This article reviews the literature on automation and its impact on labor markets, wages, factor shares, and productivity. I first introduce the task model and explain why this framework offers a compelling way to think about recent labor market trends and the effects of automation technologies. The task model clarifies that automation technologies operate by substituting capital for labor in a widening range of tasks. This substitution reduces costs, creating a positive productivity effect, but it also reduces employment opportunities for workers displaced from automated tasks, creating a negative displacement effect. I survey the empirical literature and conclude that there is wide qualitative support for the implications of task models and the displacement effects of automation. I conclude by discussing shortcomings of the existing literature and avenues for future research.
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: Leading field journal. How sources are ranked.
- Published
- 2024 (30 months ago)
- Citations
- 62 (OpenAlex)
Citations in context
62 citations — 70th percentile among the 23 indexed papers from 2024 in this collection. Citation counts favor older papers; this compares only same-year papers here, not the whole literature.
□ added to this collection in 2026.
Pascual Restrepo signed the wemustactnow.ai letter · author affiliation matches seed institution boston university — part of why this paper is in the collection.
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