Abstract
Routine tasks are increasingly becoming automated why labor market skills can depreciate in usefulness and relevance. I develop a task-based framework which incorporates decisions on human capital investment based on the concepts of the psychometric literature on skill formation. The model predicts that labor immiseration -- i.e. full automation of the economy -- is inevitable unless learning efficiency is improved through capital taxation. While such a scheme can hinder labor immiseration, job polarization, however, is shown to be perpetual and exacerbating as low-index workers are more adversely affected by automation of routine-tasks. The main mechanism for these results are shown to be differences in skill profiles, cross-productivity of skills and the faster accumulation rate of physical vis-à-vis human capital due to advanced skills being more difficult to master.
The seminar will be held in room 1249 (12th floor) at Eilert Sundts Hus. The address is Moltke Moes vei 31.