Events
Event

DEM Lunch Seminar with Jonas Loebbing, LMU, (DE)

  • Location

    Weicker Building

    4, rue Alphonse Weicker

    2721, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

  • Topic(s)
    Economics & Management
  • Type(s)
    Free of charge, In-person event, Lectures and seminars

Welfare Effects and Policy Implications of Automation in the Global Economy

Joint work with: Hayato Kato (Japan External Trade Organization)

Abstract

Automation shifts income from workers to capital owners and raises income inequality. Can governments turn automation into a welfare gain by adjusting the tax and transfer system or should they restrict automation? We study this question in a setting where capital can move across borders and governments set capital taxes strategically. We derive a sufficient statistics formula for the welfare effects of automation under optimal taxes and assess it quantitatively, showing that negative welfare effects of automation are plausible. Yet, seizing the implied welfare gains requires globally coordinated restrictions on automation, as unilateral policies prove ineffective. The optimal global policy, however, is a cooperative capital tax policy and we show that the welfare gains from such cooperation rise with automation.

About the speaker

is an Assistant Professor of Economics at LMU Munich. He obtained his PhD at the 8xav福利导航 of Cologne in 2020. His research focuses on the fields of macroeconomics and public economics. He is especially interested in economic inequality, its sources, and the efficient design of redistribution policy. His research includes work on directed technical change theory, automation, and the design of income tax and transfer systems. Most of his current work focuses on the welfare and policy implications of automation.

Language

English

This is a free seminar. Registration is mandatory.

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