--- title: "Automation and Human Capital Adjustment · AI Fault Line" url: https://aifaultline.com/research/p/doi-10-3368-jhr-1222-12684r1/ 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/) # Automation and Human Capital Adjustment Giuseppe Di Giacomo, Benjamin Lerch · The Journal of Human Resources · 11 Dec 2023 [Read original source](https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.1222-12684r1) Where this sits in the debate - [Will AI destroy more jobs than it creates?](https://aifaultline.com/debate/jobs/) Direction of the finding as read from the abstract by an AI model ([AI-written](https://aifaultline.com/about/)). ## Abstract Abstract This paper analyzes the link between automation and education by investigating the impact of the introduction of industrial robots on college enrollment in the US. We exploit exogenous variation in the adoption of robots across US local labor markets and show that for every additional robot adopted four individuals enroll in college. This result is driven by rising enrollment rates in local community colleges. We also observe a shift in graduations towards more applied fields. Finally, we show that the increase in college enrollment is primarily due to reduced opportunity costs, rather than an increase in the college wage premium. ## 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](https://aifaultline.com/about/#source-ranking). Published 2023 (35 months ago) Citations 11 (OpenAlex) ## Citations in context [Chart: 11 citations, cohort median 397.5] 11 citations — 12th percentile among the 8 indexed papers from 2023 in this collection. Citation counts favor older papers; this compares only same-year papers here, not the whole literature. [Chart: published 2023] □ added to this collection in 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/).