James Bessen
Will industries use new information technologies to eliminate jobs? Sometimes productivity-enhancing technology increases industry employment instead. In manufacturing, jobs grew along with productivity for a century or more; only later did productivity gains bring declining employment. What changed? Markets became saturated.
Research Summary: Why Isn’t Automation Creating Unemployment?
James Bessen
Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies will automate many jobs, but the effect on employment is not obvious. Although technology has sharply reduced jobs in manufacturing in recent decades, for over a century before that, employment grew, even in industries experiencing rapid technological change. This paper presents a simple model of the change in demand that accurately predicts the rise and fall of employment in the textile, steel and automotive industries, and will be useful for exploring how AI is likely to affect jobs over the next 10 or 20 years.
James Bessen
Since the 1980s, US industries have become increasingly dominated by large firms across almost all sectors. Why? One possibility is that large firms have become dominant because antitrust authorities have allowed too many mergers and acquisitions. James Bessen explores another possibility: that leading firms have been better at harnessing information technology (IT) for competitive advantage, allowing them to grow faster.
Research Summary: Why are large firms becoming more dominant?
James Bessen in the SF Chronicle
James Bessen at Monktoberfest on the effects of automation on employment.
James Bessen speaks at the Vatican
James Bessen in the Wall Street Journal
James Bessen on C-SPAN
Ian Hathaway and James Bessen cited in the Economist, 8/4/2017
James Bessen quoted in Bloomberg, 7/26/2017