Do Robots Increase Wealth Dispersion?

We demonstrate that increased automation has a significant negative impact on distribution of wealth. Households who are more exposed to industrial robots at work accumulate less wealth and experience greater downward mobility in the wealth distribution. The negative wealth effects of robots are not merely a consequence of differences in earned incomes or differential saving rates. We provide evidence that the adverse effects of rapid robotization on individual workers' human capital, and thereby, on their financial risk taking and investment behavior represent an additional important mechanism. Overall, the portfolio channel amplifies the inequality-enhancing effects of increased automation