This is the Conclusion of this research.
Therefore if you did not read the previous parts, here it is:
- Robots Everywhere, Except in The Statistics [Part 1]
- Robots Everywhere, Except in The Statistics [Part 2]
Where are the robots?
Of course shortly after Solow made his 1987 quip about the computer age not showing up in the productivity data, it did just that with a surge that lasted a decade. So it is possible that automation is picking up speed but the macro-economic effects are lagged. Consider the following effects:
- Investment in IT may not be decelerating, at least in quality-adjusted terms. Think of Moore’s law in reverse as people respond to increased computing power by paying for less of it. Also, performance upgrades have been huge and (genuinely) may not be captured by the statistics.
- The same logic applies to software, but maybe more so. Firms are ditching packages that require expensive-to-maintain back-up infrastructure and instead just paying monthly fees to vendors. Moreover, many software tools have become open-source, just as many previously-expensive applications are now free. The point is that the monopolistic pricing capacity of vendors has been hugely reduced and hence users can consume more computing capability for less money.
This piece does not aim to provide answers to the conundrum of weak productivity growth in most developed economies.
It does make the simple observation that there is almost no evidence of radical economic effects stemming from large-scale automation.
The End.
Related Articles:
- Robots Everywhere, Except in The Statistics [Part 1]
- Robots Everywhere, Except in The Statistics [Part 2]
- Governments against Big Tech Companies
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