scholarly journals More Power to the People: Electricity Adoption, Technological Change, and Labor Conflict

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Jakob Molinder ◽  
Tobias Karlsson ◽  
Kerstin Enflo
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
Technical Change ◽  
Labor Demand ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Labor Strikes ◽  
The People ◽  
Bargaining Position ◽  
The Impact

Will technical change spur conflicts in the labor market? In this study, we examine electricity adoption in Sweden during the first decades of the twentieth century. Exploiting that proximity to hydropowered plants shaped the electricity network independently of previous local conditions, we estimate the impact of electricity on labor strikes. Our results indicate that electricity adoption preceded an increase in conflicts, but strikes were of an offensive nature and most common in sectors with increasing labor demand. This suggests that electrification provided workers with a stronger bargaining position from which they could voice their claims.

Implications of higher retirement age for the labor market

2017 ◽  
pp. 22-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ivanova ◽  
A. Balaev ◽  
E. Gurvich
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Labor Supply ◽  
Labor Force ◽  
Labor Demand ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Demographic Trends ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Demographic Projections ◽  
The Impact

The paper considers the impact of the increase in retirement age on labor supply and economic growth. Combining own estimates of labor participation and demographic projections by the Rosstat, the authors predict marked fall in the labor force (by 5.6 million persons over 2016-2030). Labor demand is also going down but to a lesser degree. If vigorous measures are not implemented, the labor force shortage will reach 6% of the labor force by the period end, thus restraining economic growth. Even rapid and ambitious increase in the retirement age (by 1 year each year to 65 years for both men and women) can only partially mitigate the adverse consequences of demographic trends.

scholarly journals HUMAN CAPITAL AND ITS ROLE IN THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yelyzaveta Snitko ◽  
Yevheniia Zavhorodnia
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Fourth Industrial Revolution ◽  
Modern Economy ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Impact

The development of a modern economy, in the context of the fourth industrial revolution, is impossible without the accumulation and development of human capital, since the foundation of the transformation of the economic system in an innovative economy is human capital. In this regard, the level of development and the efficiency of using human capital are of paramount importance. This article attempts to assess the role of human capital in the fourth industrial revolution. In the future, human talent will play a much more important role in the production process than capital. However, it will also lead to a greater division of the labor market with a growing gap between low-paid and high-paid jobs, and will contribute to an increase in social tensions. Already today, there is an increase in demand for highly skilled workers, especially in high-income countries, with a decrease in demand for workers with lower skills and lower levels of education. Analysis of labor market trends suggests that the future labor market is a market where there is simultaneously a certain demand for both higher and lower skills and abilities, combined with the devastation of the middle tier. The fourth industrial revolution relies heavily on the concept of human capital and the importance of finding complementarity between human and technology. In assessing the impact of the fourth industrial revolution, the relationship between technology, economic growth and human resources was examined. The analysis was carried out in terms of three concepts of economic growth, technological change and human capital. Human capital contributes to the advancement of new technologies, which makes the concept of human capital an essential factor in technological change. The authors emphasize that the modern economy makes new demands on workers; therefore it is necessary to constantly accumulate human capital, develop it through continuous learning, which will allow the domestic economy to enter the trajectory of sustainable economic growth. The need to create conditions for a comprehensive increase in the level of human capital development is noted.

scholarly journals Distributional consequences of technological change: Worker-level evidence

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 205316801882214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Kurer ◽  
Aina Gallego
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Technological Change ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Employment Trajectories ◽  
Routine Work ◽  
The Impact

This paper explores the employment trajectories of workers exposed to technological change. Based on individual-level panel data from the UK, we first confirm that the share of middle-skilled routine workers has declined, while non-routine jobs in both high- and low-skilled occupations have increased, consistent with country-level patterns of job polarization. Next, we zoom in on the actual transition patterns of threatened routine workers. Despite the aggregate decline in routine work, most affected workers manage to remain in the labor market during the time they are in the study: about 64% “survive” in routine work, 24% switch to other (better or worse paying) jobs, almost 10% exit routine work via retirement and only a small minority end up unemployed. Based on this finding, the final part of our analysis studies the economic implications of remaining in a digitalizing occupational environment. We rely on an original approach that specifically captures the impact of information and communication technology at the industry level on labor market outcomes and find evidence for a digital Matthew effect: while outcomes are, on average, positive, it is first and foremost non-routine workers in cognitively demanding jobs that benefit from the penetration of new technologies in the workplace. In the conclusions, we discuss if labor market polarization is a likely source of intensified political conflict.

Power and Place

2020 ◽  
pp. 186-233
Author(s):  
Erika Hanna
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Documentary Photography ◽  
Irish Society ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Societal Problems ◽  
New Generation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Chapter 6 surveys the history of documentary photography in twentieth-century Ireland. In particular, it examines the emergence of a new generation of documentary photographers and their role in debates about the nature of Irish society from the 1970s to the 1990s. Self-consciously radical, these photographers aimed to use their work to expose injustice and ‘reveal’ the hidden side of Irish life. In particular, the chapter focuses on the career of three photographers: Derek Speirs, Joanne O’Brien, and Frankie Quinn. It uses close readings of the work of these photographers, contemporaneous photography magazines, coupled with the extensive use of oral histories to explore the impact of documentary photography on Ireland in the later twentieth century. In their depiction of poverty as both visceral and uncomfortable, they challenged the traditional iconography of Ireland which had aestheticized or even eulogized these themes. Moreover, these photographers were often self-conscious and reflective regarding the relationship between themselves and the people—often in difficult circumstances—whom they portrayed. Nevertheless, they were often forced to make difficult choices about the depiction of poverty, violence, and injustice which attempted to expose societal problems without being voyeuristic. An exploration of choices they made regarding how they engaged with their subjects, what they photographed, and where they published provides a way of exploring the visual economies of social justice in later twentieth-century Ireland.

scholarly journals Who Benefited from Industrialization? The Local Effects of Hydropower Technology Adoption in Norway

2019 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-245
Author(s):  
Stefan Leknes ◽  
Jørgen Modalsli
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Technology Adoption ◽  
Labor Market Outcomes ◽  
Experimental Setting ◽  
Local Effects ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Remote Areas ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
The Impact

This paper studies the impact of the construction of hydropower facilities on labor market outcomes in Norway at the turn of the twentieth century (1891–1920). The sudden breakthrough in hydropower technology provides a quasi-experimental setting, as not all municipalities had suitable natural endowments and the possible production sites were often located in remote areas. We find that hydropower municipalities experienced faster structural transformation and displayed higher occupational mobility. We interpret this as evidence that this early twentieth-century technology was skill biased, as workers in the new skilled jobs were recruited from a broad segment of the population.

The Impact of Late Nineteenth-Century Unions on Labor Earnings and Hours: Iowa in 1894

ILR Review ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 501-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Eichengreen
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Wage Dispersion ◽  
Labor Earnings ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
The Impact

This paper presents an analysis of data on male workers taken from an 1894 survey of the Iowa labor market. Consistent with the results of earlier research by Paul Douglas, the author finds evidence of a statistically significant and economically important union earnings premium. The analysis also shows that late nineteenth-century unionism, like unionism in the twentieth century, tended to reduce wage dispersion. On the other hand, the author finds no evidence that late nineteenth-century unions reduced the length of the workday for union members compared to nonunion workers.

scholarly journals An Analysis of the Effects of Public Investment on Labor Demand through the Channel of Economic Growth with a Focus on Socio-Professional Categories and Gender

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 580
Author(s):  
Mame Cheikh Anta Sall ◽  
Adriana Burlea-Schiopoiu
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Computable General Equilibrium ◽  
Public Investment ◽  
Labor Demand ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Positive Discrimination ◽  
Employment Programs ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Impact

The paper aims to analyze the impact of public investments generated by implementing the Emerging Senegal Plan (ESP) on economic growth and gender inequalities observed in the labor market in Senegal. A dynamic computable general equilibrium modeling was carried out for this purpose using a social accounting matrix (SAM) based on an extensive segmentation of the labor market according to gender and socio-professional category. The results prove that the investments made in priority market sectors led, overall, to a good trajectory of economic growth. Moreover, job creation followed the expansion of sectors of the economy, which increased their demand for labor because of the capital increase. In conclusion, there is a strong demand for qualified women (senior executives and middle executives). We recommend considering positive discrimination in favor of women by implementing public employment programs and the importance of recovery sectors affected by the pandemic.

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