ECB Conference on Digitalization, 2019 - James Bessen
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Bessen, James
James Besson of Boston University speaks on his topic of discussion at the ECB's Conference of Digitalization.
 A lot of people are very afraid that automation and new technology will lead to massive job losses. I've done some research, both historical and present day, to reflect on this. One of the things we find is that in the past, automation has often led to major job increases. So while we tend to think of something like manufacturing or textile manufacturing, for instance, as something where automation has eliminated jobs, and that's true for the last several decades, in the 19th century it was the case that automation increased jobs. The key idea here is that automation lowers prices or improves quality and so increases demand. And when demand is pent up, people have a lot of demand. So automation leads to lower prices and so much so that it leads to job growth. It's something we study what happens when major ITE information technology is installed in firms today, and we see on average it leads to job growth.
 A lot of people are very afraid that automation and new technology will lead to massive job losses.  I've done some research, both historical and present day, to reflect on this.  One of the things we find is that in the past, automation has often led to major job increases.  So while we tend to think of something like manufacturing or textile manufacturing, for instance,  as something where automation has eliminated jobs, and that's true for the last several decades,  in the 19th century it was the case that automation increased jobs.  The key idea here is that automation lowers prices or improves quality and so increases demand.  And when demand is pent up, people have a lot of demand.  So automation leads to lower prices and so much so that it leads to job growth.  It's something we study what happens when major ITE information technology is installed in firms today,  and we see on average it leads to job growth.
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