Robots and the skill premium : an automation-based explanation of wage inequality

Clemens Lankisch, Klaus Prettner, Alexia Prskawetz ; Research Area “INEPA – Inequality and Economic Policy Analysis”

We analyze the effects of automation on the wages of high-skilled and low- skilled workers and thereby on the evolution of wage inequality. Our model explains the simultaneous presence of i) increasing per capita GDP, ii) de-clining real wages of low-skilled workers, and iii) an increasing skill-premium. These developments are consistent with the experience in the United States over the past decades and have the potential to contribute to the explanation of the rise in overall incomeinequality that we have observed since the 1980s.

MoreLess

Year of publication:	28.09.2017
Authors:	Lankisch, Clemens ; Prettner, Klaus ; Fürnkranz-Prskawetz, Alexia
Publisher:	Stuttgart, Germany : University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, Research Area INEPA
Subject:	automation \| declining real wages of low-skilled workers \| income inequality \| long-run economic growth \| skill premium \| Lohnstruktur \| Wage structure \| Einkommensverteilung \| Income distribution \| Qualifikation \| Occupational qualification \| Ungelernte Arbeitskräfte \| Unskilled workers \| Bildungsertrag \| Returns to education \| Roboter \| Robot \| Reallohn \| Real wages \| Technischer Fortschritt \| Technological change \| Automatisierung \| Automation \| Wirtschaftswachstum \| Economic growth \| Einkommen