Project description
Utilising the knowledge of past technological changes to understand future impacts
The transformational power of innovation in information technology over the production process of firms is an undeniable fact. When this change affects the size and structure of a firm, it is called quantity-biased technological change (QBTC). The EU-funded TechChange project aims to study this type of technological change, and especially how it affects the workforce in terms of employment and wage inequality. TechChange uses a model with highly heterogeneous firms and workers and decreasing returns to firm size and revisits past periods of technological change and related policy interventions to gain insights for the future.
Objective
Technological change in information technology has the potential of transforming the production process of firms. Some processes such as automation affect workers directly, while others such as the introduction of automated workflow and control tools simply allow firms to grow to bigger sizes. We call the latter Quantity-Biased Technological Change (QBTC).
The existing literature has done relatively little to understand the effects of such technological progress that affects the size and structure of firms and thereby indirectly the workforce. We aim to study this type of technological change, and especially how it affects the workforce in terms of employment and wage inequality.
We aim to explore this intuitive idea in a model with highly heterogeneous firms and workers and decreasing returns to firm size. When technology enables firms to manage more workers, productive firms are now less limited by size considerations and tend to expand, affecting the marginal product of the workers. A preliminary calibration that aims to explains changes in the firm size, wage, and profit distribution in Germany over the last 15 years shows evidence of quantitative importance of the channel and its interaction with other effects, such as Skill-Biased Technological Change (SBTC). Yet there remain many obstacles: accounting for worker heterogeneity within the firm, exploring issues of market power, micro-founding the source of QBTC, and possibly linking it to new innovations such as the rise of artificial intelligence in firm management.
In addition, we propose to revisit past periods of technological change and related policy interventions to gain insights for the future. To achieve this, we discuss how to analyze the past impact on regions with different industrial and occupational compositions. On top, we aim to explore a novel methodology to identify which and how many workers will be affected.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences sociology industrial relations automation
- social sciences economics and business business and management employment
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2018-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1348 LOUVAIN LA NEUVE
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.