The Application Of Robots And Its Effects On Firm’s Productivity And Labor Market

At present,robots are widely used in the world,and China has become the world’s largest application market of robots.The rapid development of robots and its potential effects on productivity,employment and income distribution have attracted a wide attention of economists.However,there are obvious deficiencies in the existing researches on robots.First of all,due to the lack of microdata on robot,it’s difficult to describe and analyze the application of robot at the level of firm in detail.Secondly,for the influence effect of robots,most of the existing researches stay at theoretical level.Thirdly,the only relevant empirical researches on robots’ effects mainly stay at national level or industry level,lack the in-depth discussion of the micro mechanism and heterogeneity.Moreover,a large number of studies are concentrated in developed economies such as Europe and the United States,while the research on China is very scarce.In view of this,this dissertation utilizes the latest representative microdata on the robot at the firm level,China Enterprise General Survey(CEGS)data,to make a comprehensive and detailed description and analysis of the application status and the effect of robots in China,so as to deepen the understanding of this new technological change,thus contribute to the existing literature.Firstly,this dissertation describes and analyzes the growth,distribution and existing problems of robots in China.Secondly,this dissertation empirically examines the impacts of robots on firm productivity,its potential mechanisms and micro heterogeneities.Thirdly,this dissertation analyzes the effects of robots on employment and income distribution.Finally,this dissertation provides some policy suggestions on how to realize the better application of robots in China.Specifically,this dissertation has the following findings: first,whether measured by the proportion of firms using robots,the average number of robots of firms,or the average present value of robots of firms,in recent years,the application of robots in China has shown a significant growth trend.The application of robots varies significantly among regions,industries and firms.The proportion of firms using robots is relatively high in Jiangsu Province,Guangdong Province,and Jilin Province;largescale firms,export firms,and foreign firms are more likely to use robots;firms in automobile manufacturing industry,railway,ship,aerospace and other transportation equipment manufacturing industry,computer,communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing industry are more likely to use robots.In addition,there are still some problems in the application and development of robots in China.For example,compared with South Korea,Singapore,Germany,Japan,and the United States,the density of robots in China is still not high;the indigenous innovation ability of robotrelated technologies in China is insufficient;the utilization of robots’ capacity in China is insufficient.Second,the application of robots can significantly improve the labor productivity and total factor productivity of firms,and this result is stable even when some firm characteristics,entrepreneur characteristics,industry and county fixed effects are controlled for,as well as in firm-year fixed effects model and in instrumental variable(IV)model.The results of IV show that,on average,compared with the firms without robots,the firms with robots are 38.4% higher in labor productivity and 33.9% higher in total factor productivity.The main mechanisms of robots’ effects on productivity are through reducing the labor costs,promoting the product innovation and improving the quality level.The productivity effects of robot are heterogeneous.For small-scale firms,robots play a greater role in improving productivity,and only in firms with better human capital,higher management ability and better business environment,can robots significantly improve productivity.Third,robots have a significant effect on the scale and structure of employment while improving the productivity of firms.In terms of the number of workers employed,the application of robots has a significant positive effect.Specifically,when the relevant factors are controlled for,the total employment of firms with robots is 8.6% higher than that of the firms without robots.The possible reasons are that the “productivity effect”of robots is greater than the “substitution effect”,and robots may create more new jobs while replacing the original ones.From the perspective of employment structure,the application of robots has a biased impact on the workers engaged in different types of tasks,and the workers with different skill levels,ages,and genders.Specifically,the application of robots will increase the demand of firms for workers managing nonroutine tasks,workers with college degrees or above,technical design workers,younger workers(30 years or below)and male workers.Fourth,although the application of robots increases labor income,it has a negative impact on the share of labor income.When the relevant factors are controlled for,the average monthly income of labor in the firms with robots is significantly higher than that in the firms without robots.However,the promotion effect of robots on labor income is lower than that on firm productivity,thus reducing the share of labor income.Specifically,compared with the firms without robots,the share of labor income is about4.6 percentage points significantly lower.Further analyses show that robots have no significant effect on the income return to skill and gender income difference.Based on the description and analysis of the application of robots in China and its effects,this dissertation holds that the R&D and application of robots in China should be further promoted,to speed up the transformation and upgrading of China’s economy and to realize the high-quality development.At the same time,we should be alert to the potential negative effects of robots on employment and income distribution,to effectively guarantee employment and improve income distribution.