This paper examines the impact of automation investments on employment dynamics and workforce composition using administrative data from Portugal. I exploit the lumpiness of automation imports in a difference-in-differences event study design. My results show that automation creates jobs in small firms but leads to job losses in larger ones. This pattern holds across a wide range of firm types, industries and types of automation technologies. Most importantly, automation favors low-educated, routine-blue-collar workers in routine-intensive jobs over highly skilled workers like STEM professionals. These findings challenge the view of automation as inherently skill-biased.
Presented at: World Labor Conference (AASLE-EALE-SOLE, Toronto, June 2025), Druid Conference (Toronto, June 2025), PSE-CEPR Policy Forum 2025 (Paris, June 2025), Munich Summer Institute PhD Workshop (Munich, May 2025), FIND Seminar at Aarhus University (February 2025, Aarhus), Applied Young Economists Webinar (online, May 2025), Lunch Seminar at the University of Pisa (October 2024), AIEL Conference (Naples, October 2024), Verein für Socialpolitik (Berlin, September 2024), Linked Employer-Employee Conference (Copenhagen, June 2024), International Schumpeter Society Conference (Gothenburg, June 2024), BeNA 20-Year Jubilee Conference (Berlin, March 2024).
Institutions representing the workers’ voice have long been a contentious topic in the economic literature. Against a backdrop of inconclusive evidence and limited use of credible identification strategies, we study the impact of the 2015 policy change that introduced mandatory board-level employee representation in firms with over 1,000 employees in France. Using rich linked employer-employee data and two empirical strategies—a difference-in-differences and a difference-in-discontinuity approach—we examine how the reform affected firms and workers. Our results show a positive impact on job quality, with no evidence of adverse effects on firm performance, and heterogeneous effects between manufacturing and service sectors.
Presented at: ASTRIL (Rome, January 2025), PRIN 2022 Workshop on Inequalities and Technical Change in Pisa (Pisa, November 2024), International Schumpeter Society Conference (by Daniele Moschella, Gothenburg, June 2024).