Benign Effects of Automation: New Evidence from Patent Texts

Katja Mann; Lukas Püttmann

doi:10.1162/rest_a_01083

Benign Effects of Automation: New Evidence from Patent Texts

Katja Mann^*, Lukas Püttmann^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Economics

Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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Abstract

We provide a new measure of automation based on patents and study its employment effects. Classifying all U.S. patents granted between 1976 and 2014 as automation or nonautomation patents, we document a strong rise in the number and share of automation patents. We link patents to their industries of use and to commuting zones. To estimate the effect of automation, we use an instrumental variables strategy that relies on innovations developed independently from U.S. labor market trends. We find that automation technology has a positive effect on employment in local labor markets, driven by job growth in the service sector.

Original language	English
Journal	Review of Economics and Statistics
Volume	105
Issue number	3
Pages (from-to)	562-579
Number of pages	18
ISSN	0034-6535
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_01083
Publication status	Published - May 2023

Bibliographical note

Published online: 9 August 2021.

Keywords

Automation
Employment
Labor demand
Innovation
Patents
Local labor markets

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Cite this

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title = "Benign Effects of Automation: New Evidence from Patent Texts",

abstract = "We provide a new measure of automation based on patents and study its employment effects. Classifying all U.S. patents granted between 1976 and 2014 as automation or nonautomation patents, we document a strong rise in the number and share of automation patents. We link patents to their industries of use and to commuting zones. To estimate the effect of automation, we use an instrumental variables strategy that relies on innovations developed independently from U.S. labor market trends. We find that automation technology has a positive effect on employment in local labor markets, driven by job growth in the service sector.",

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AB - We provide a new measure of automation based on patents and study its employment effects. Classifying all U.S. patents granted between 1976 and 2014 as automation or nonautomation patents, we document a strong rise in the number and share of automation patents. We link patents to their industries of use and to commuting zones. To estimate the effect of automation, we use an instrumental variables strategy that relies on innovations developed independently from U.S. labor market trends. We find that automation technology has a positive effect on employment in local labor markets, driven by job growth in the service sector.

KW - Automation

KW - Employment

KW - Labor demand

KW - Innovation

KW - Patents

KW - Local labor markets

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KW - Employment

KW - Labor demand

KW - Innovation

KW - Patents

KW - Local labor markets

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