Automation, AI and Development

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

From robots to ChatGPT, the impacts of new technologies are grabbing headlines – and policy makers’ attention. While these technologies can raise productivity and open new opportunities for growth, they can also destroy jobs and risk raising inequality, within and across countries. This course will look at the theory and evidence of the economic impacts of automation and AI, and how they are disrupting traditional models of economic development. Many of the most successful examples of growth and poverty reduction have been achieved by East Asian countries following a model of manufacturing export-led development. Will industrial robots close off this path for countries that haven’t yet industrialized? Will the spread of digital technologies open other avenues, e.g. will they enable more services to be traded? Will AI put more high skilled jobs at risk? How much are global patterns of production and trade likely to change? And what are the implications for the distribution of income within countries? The course will examine policy options raised by the spread of these new technologies. The course will look at the cases for and against industrial and trade policies that aim to achieve greater domestic production or even to encourage national champions. It will also look at other policy areas that affect the ability to adopt and use new technologies, from competition policies, skills, financial markets, infrastructure, the protection of data privacy and intellectual property rights. This course counts as an applied economics class. It will explore more advanced trade models and models of firm behavior. Students will also gain experience using data to conduct analysis.