Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 
Title: Automation, Partial and Full
Author-Name: Jakub Growiec 
Abstract: When some steps of a complex, multi-step task are automated, the demandfor human work in the remaining complementary sub-tasks goes up. In contrast, when the task is fully automated, the demand for human work declines. Partial automatability of complex tasks leads to a bottleneck of development (where further growth is constrained by the scarcity of essentialhuman work) which is removed once the tasks become fully automatable.Theoretical analysis using a two-level nested CES production function specification demonstrates that the shift from partial to full automation generates anon-convexity: humans and machines switch from complementary to substitutable, and the share of output accruing to human workers switches from anupward to a downward trend. This process has implications for inequality, therisk of technological unemployment and the likelihood of a secular stagnation.
Number: 2020-048
Length: 22 pages 
Creation-Date: 2020-04
Keywords: shadow economy, automation, complex task, complementarity, factor share, nested CES
Classification-JEL: J23, L11, O30, O40
File-URL: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12182/1102
File-Format: Application/pdf
DOI: 10.33119/kaewps2020048
Handle: RePEc:sgh:kaewps:2020048