Robert Hickson • Feb 28, 2018 •
I’ve written previously about how no one really has any idea about the effect of automation on jobs. Erin Winick has done the hard work to illustrate that by compiling the predictions of numbers of jobs created or destroyed by various pundits and studies. Mostly these predictions focus on the US, with a few … Read More
Robert Hickson • Feb 13, 2018 •
There’s a lot of effort going into anticipating the impact of automation on jobs. Some more useful than others. The World Economic Forum has (unintentionally it seems) inspired a Dune-like future occupation of “Landfill recycler”, where some poor person gets to ride a giant sandworm-like creation. I don’t see why you’d need a person for … Read More
Guest Author • Jan 26, 2018 •
Peter Hancock, University of Central Florida This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Imagine you are about to go on vacation. You have been looking forward to it for some time. But your robotic personal assistant has other ideas. It calmly explains to you that it will be cheaper, safer and … Read More
Robert Hickson • Nov 08, 2017 •
We’re gonna’ need a bigger band wagon. Faced with predictions of mass unemployment due to increasing automation calls to implement a universal basic income have been growing. This involves giving everyone an income regardless of whether they work or not. Though it is getting a less favourable welcome in Australia, because of what it … Read More
Robert Hickson • Oct 24, 2017 •
Not the party, the activity. Labour day in New Zealand is when a few remember and (mostly) celebrate the improvements in working conditions over time, while many just enjoy a day off. However, there has been much angst recently that, thanks to increasing automation, many of us will soon not have the experience of paid employment. Reflecting what seems to … Read More
Guest Author • Jan 22, 2017 •
By Associate Professor Colin Gavaghan, Director of the New Zealand Law Foundation Centre for Law and Policy in Emerging Technologies, University of Otago The European Parliament’s Draft Report on Robotics has certainly captured the public imagination, and it’s easy to see why. Proposals about ‘smart robots,’ ‘robot killswitches’ and ‘electronic persons’ perfectly capture the zeitgeist, where talk of … Read More
Paul Walker • Sep 22, 2016 •
A common argument you see with regard to computers and employment is that computer automation leads to major job losses. James Bessen deals with this issue in a new column at VoxEU.org. A modern version of the Luddite story. Bessen argues that this line of argument, however, ignores the dynamic economic responses that involve both changing … Read More
Robert Hickson • May 16, 2016 •
There are four narratives about how increasing automation of manual and cognitive tasks will affect employment: Many people will no longer have paid employment, and will depend on government assistance. Many people will no longer have paid employment, but automation will create highly productive and equitable economies that enable people to pursue their own creative and social endeavours. As in … Read More
Robert Hickson • Sep 09, 2015 •
Following on from my last post about robots, evolution, and metaphors, the Journal of Economic Perspectives has, for a non-economist, a surprisingly good pair of other articles in the same issue. Both Mokyr et al. and Autor provide good historical perspectives on how economists and others have a poor track record of predicting future … Read More