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Back to the past: the historical roots of labour-saving automation

Author

Listed:
  • Jacopo Staccioli

    (Dipartimento di Politica Economica, DISCE, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore – Institute of Economics, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa)

  • Maria Enrica Virgillito

    (Institute of Economics, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa – Dipartimento di Politica Economica, DISCE, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore)

Abstract
This paper, relying on a still relatively unexplored long-term dataset on U.S. patenting activity, provides empirical evidence on the history of labour-saving innovations back to early 19th century. The identification of mechanisation/automation heuristics, retrieved via textual content analysis on current robotic technologies by Montobbio et al. (2020), allows to focus on a limited set of CPC codes where mechanisation and automation technologies are more prevalent. We track their time evolution, clustering, eventual emergence of wavy behaviour, and their comovements with long-term GDP growth. Our results challenge both the general-purpose technology approach and the strict 50-year Kondratiev cycle, while provide evidence of the emergence of erratic constellations of heterogeneous technological artefacts, in line with the development-block approach enabled by autocatalytic systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacopo Staccioli & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2020. "Back to the past: the historical roots of labour-saving automation," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Politica Economica dipe0012, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    • Handle: RePEc:ctc:serie5:dipe0012
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Damioli, Giacomo & Van Roy, Vincent & Vertesy, Daniel & Vivarelli, Marco, 2021. "May AI Revolution Be Labour-Friendly? Some Micro Evidence from the Supply Side," IZA Discussion Papers 14309, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Rajeev K. Goel & Michael A. Nelson, 2022. "Employment effects of R&D and process innovation: evidence from small and medium-sized firms in emerging markets," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(1), pages 97-123, March.
    3. Jasmine Mondolo, 2022. "The composite link between technological change and employment: A survey of the literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 1027-1068, September.
    4. Hugo Castro-Silva & Francisco Lima, 2023. "The struggle of small firms to retain high-skill workers: job duration and the importance of knowledge intensity," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 537-572, February.
    5. Dosi, G. & Pereira, M.C. & Roventini, A. & Virgillito, M.E., 2022. "Technological paradigms, labour creation and destruction in a multi-sector agent-based model," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(10).
    6. Montobbio, Fabio & Staccioli, Jacopo & Virgillito, Maria Enrica & Vivarelli, Marco, 2021. "Labour-Saving Automation and Occupational Exposure: A Text-Similarity Measure," IZA Discussion Papers 14879, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Taymaz, Erol & Voyvoda, Ebru & Yilmaz, Kamil, 2024. "Is there a virtuous cycle between wages and productivity? Turkish experience after the transition to democracy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    8. Montobbio, Fabio & Staccioli, Jacopo & Virgillito, Maria Enrica & Vivarelli, Marco, 2022. "Robots and the origin of their labour-saving impact," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    9. Başak Dalgıç & Burcu Fazlıoğlu & Aytekin Güven, 2023. "Innovation, employment and market structure: firm level evidence from Turkey," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(3), pages 1385-1407, September.
    10. Borsato, Andrea & Lorentz, André, 2023. "The Kaldor–Verdoorn law at the age of robots and AI," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(10).
    11. Enrico Santarelli & Jacopo Staccioli & Marco Vivarelli, 2023. "Automation and related technologies: a mapping of the new knowledge base," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 779-813, April.
    12. Guendalina Anzolin, 2021. "Automation and its Employment Effects: A Literature Review of Automotive and Garment Sectors," JRC Working Papers on Labour, Education and Technology 2021-16, Joint Research Centre.
    13. Chih-Hai Yang, 2023. "R&D responses to labor cost shock in China: does firm size matter?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 1773-1793, December.
    14. Jacopo Staccioli & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2020. "The present, past, and future of labor-saving technologies," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Politica Economica dipe0013, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    15. Zarifhonarvar, Ali, 2023. "Economics of ChatGPT: A Labor Market View on the Occupational Impact of Artificial Intelligence," EconStor Preprints 268826, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    16. Giacomo Damioli & Vincent Van Roy & Daniel Vertesy & Marco Vivarelli, 2021. "Detecting the labour-friendly nature of AI product innovation," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Politica Economica dipe0017, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    17. Ryota Nakatani, 2024. "Multifactor productivity growth enhancers across industries and countries: firm-level evidence," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 14(2), pages 401-446, June.
    18. Mark Knell & Simone Vannuccini, 2022. "Tools and concepts for understanding disruptive technological change after Schumpeter," Jena Economics Research Papers 2022-005, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    19. Yang, Chih-Hai, 2022. "How Artificial Intelligence Technology Affects Productivity and Employment: Firm-level Evidence from Taiwan," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(6).
    20. Dimakopoulou, A.G. & Gkypali, A. & Tsekouras, K., 2024. "Technological and non-technological innovation synergies under the lens of absorptive capacity efficiency," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    21. Enrico Santarelli & Jacopo Staccioli & Marco Vivarelli, 2021. "Robots, AI, and Related Technologies: A Mapping of the New Knowledge Base," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Politica Economica dipe0016, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    22. Siqi Li & Xintao Li & Qingqing Zhao & Jun Zhang & Haoyu Xue, 2022. "An Analysis of the Dimensional Constructs of Green Innovation in Manufacturing Enterprises: Scale Development and Empirical Testing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-19, December.
    23. Damioli, Giacomo & Van Roy, Vincent & Vertesy, Daniel & Vivarelli, Marco, 2021. "Will the AI revolution be labour-friendly? Some micro evidence from the supply side," MERIT Working Papers 2021-016, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labour-Saving Technologies; Search Heuristics; Industrial Revolutions; Wavelet analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights
    • C38 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Classification Methdos; Cluster Analysis; Principal Components; Factor Analysis
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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