Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/282385 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 10697
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
We investigate the impact of investment in automation-related goods on adopting and non-adopting firms in the Italian economy during 2011-2019. We integrate datasets on trade activities, firms', and workers' characteristics for the population of Italian importing firms and estimate the effects on adopters' outcomes within a difference-indifferences design exploiting import lumpiness in product categories linked to automation and AI technologies. We find a positive average adoption effect on the adopters' employment and on the value-added and average wage, whereas sales and productivity increase after an initial drop with a net positive effect five years after adoption. Crucially, the employment effect is heterogeneous across firms: a positive scale effect is predominant among small firms, whereas a negative displacement effect is predominant among medium and large firms. We complete the framework with a 5-digit sector-level analysis showing that adopting automation technologies has an overall negative effect on aggregate employment.
Subjects: 
automation
employment
firm heterogeneity
imports
technology adoption
JEL: 
D24
J23
L25
O33
Document Type: 
Working Paper
Appears in Collections:

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.