Robotics and the Global Organisation of Production

Abstract

The growing investment in robotics is an important aspect of the increasing digitalisation of economy. Economic research has begun to consider the role of robotics in modern economies, but the empirical analysis remains overall limited. The empirical evidence of effects of robotics on employment is mixed, as shown in the review in this chapter. The effects of robots on economies go further than employment effects, as there are impacts for the organisation of production in global value chains. These change the division of labour between richer and poorer economies. Robotics may reduce offshoring of activities from developed economies towards emerging economies. Global spreading of automation with robotics can lead to faster de-industrialisation in the development process. Low-cost jobs in manufacturing may increasingly be conducted by robots such that fewer jobs than expected may be on offer for humans even if industries were to grow in emerging economies.

Robots and Export Quality

“…In developing economies much of the attention has been around the possible adverse effects of robots, such as reshoring of production back to advanced economies, unemployment due to laborsaving and the future of manufacturing-led growth models (De Backer and DeStefano, 2021). This paper considers one of the potential positive implications: quality upgrading.…”

“…Much of this work has focused on the productivity or labor-saving effects of robotics and their impact on wages or employment. 3 Some studies have begun to assess how robotics may influence the global organization of production, for instance through the potential reshoring back to developed economies of previously imported intermediate inputs (Artuc et al, 2018;De Backer and DeStefano 2021;Dachs et al, 2019). This existing research largely reflects research on the United States, Canada and European countries, with few studies examining impacts on emerging markets (notable exceptions being Artuc et al, 2018, Maloney andMolina, 2019;and de Vries et al, 2020).…”

Quantifying reshoring at the macro‐level—Measurement and applications

“…There exist a couple of macroeconomic studies of offshoring interpreted with respect to reshoring (Carbonero et al, 2018; De Backer, 2016, 2018; Faber, 2020; Marin, 2018). However, decreasing offshoring as such does not indicate whether there has been a relocation of production activity back from the foreign to the home country, which is how reshoring is actually defined.…”

“…De Backer et al (2018) find evidence that the increasing use of robots in developed countries slows down offshoring rates but that it does not motivate firms to bring jobs back home. They find this effect to be recent and to be present in particular in labor‐intensive industries but not in developing countries.…”

Automation and Manufacturing Performance in a Developing Country

“…3 We study long-run trends and account for the 2 Rodrik (2018) argues that GVC integration requires strict production requirements, which are hard to satisfy using manual work. Similarly, World Bank (2020b) andDe Backer et al (2018) suggest that by adopting technologies used in advanced economies, developing countries could boost trade relationships. Maloney and Molina (2019) discuss how automation in developing countries can improve the quality of inputs demanded by advanced economies.…”