IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ijlaec/v61y2018i2d10.1007_s41027-018-0137-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Technological Change and Employment: Creative Destruction

Author

Listed:
  • Dev Nathan

    (Institute for Human Development
    Duke University GVC Center
    GPN Studies)

  • Neetu Ahmed

    (Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU))

Abstract

In dealing with the consequences of technological change, a lot of attention is given to the destruction of jobs and of old types of livelihoods, while the simultaneous or sequential creation of new jobs and livelihoods is often not given as much attention. This paper is based on the understanding that the process of technological change is one of creative destruction, and not just one of unmitigated destruction alone. Of course, the losers and gainers are often not the same people, which is a feature of technological change that must be kept in mind while fashioning policies to deal with technological change. The paper looks at different notions of technology and the appearance of anxiety caused by technological change, particularly in times of changes in core technology, like the current period. The effects of automation on job destruction, changing requirements from workers, the flexibility of working, and the development of digital Taylorism are dealt with in this study. This is followed by considering the development of Internet-based platforms such as Amazon, Uber, Airbnb, and Ola in e-commerce and transport services, all of which have created new kinds of jobs and challenge established notions of the nature of work. The paper ends by considering some of the implications of the analysis of technological change as creative destruction for economic methodology.

Suggested Citation

  • Dev Nathan & Neetu Ahmed, 2018. "Technological Change and Employment: Creative Destruction," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 61(2), pages 281-298, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ijlaec:v:61:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s41027-018-0137-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s41027-018-0137-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s41027-018-0137-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s41027-018-0137-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bresnahan, Timothy F. & Trajtenberg, M., 1995. "General purpose technologies 'Engines of growth'?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 83-108, January.
    2. Acemoglu, Daron & Autor, David, 2011. "Skills, Tasks and Technologies: Implications for Employment and Earnings," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 12, pages 1043-1171, Elsevier.
    3. Mary Hallward-Driemeier & Gaurav Nayyar, 2017. "Trouble in the Making?," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 27946.
    4. Claudia Goldin, 2014. "A Grand Gender Convergence: Its Last Chapter," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(4), pages 1091-1119, April.
    5. Frey, Carl Benedikt & Osborne, Michael A., 2017. "The future of employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisation?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 254-280.
    6. David H. Autor, 2015. "Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 3-30, Summer.
    7. Freeman, Chris & Louca, Francisco, 2002. "As Time Goes By: From the Industrial Revolutions to the Information Revolution," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199251056.
    8. Nübler, Irmgard., 2016. "New technologies a jobless future or golden age of job creation?," ILO Working Papers 994904983402676, International Labour Organization.
    9. Carlota Perez, 2002. "Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2640.
    10. Joel Mokyr & Chris Vickers & Nicolas L. Ziebarth, 2015. "The History of Technological Anxiety and the Future of Economic Growth: Is This Time Different?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 31-50, Summer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pawan Kumar & Sunil Kumar, 2022. "ICT and Employment in India: An Analysis of Organized Sector," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 65(2), pages 373-395, June.
    2. Balwant Singh Mehta & Ishwar Chandra Awasthi, 2019. "Industry 4.0 and Future of Work in India," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 8(1), pages 9-16, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Montobbio, Fabio & Staccioli, Jacopo & Virgillito, Maria Enrica & Vivarelli, Marco, 2022. "Robots and the origin of their labour-saving impact," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    2. Cebreros Alfonso & Heffner-Rodríguez Aldo & Livas René & Puggioni Daniela, 2020. "Automation Technologies and Employment at Risk: The Case of Mexico," Working Papers 2020-04, Banco de México.
    3. Arntz, Melanie & Gregory, Terry & Zierahn, Ulrich, 2019. "Digitalization and the Future of Work: Macroeconomic Consequences," IZA Discussion Papers 12428, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Davide Dottori, 2021. "Robots and employment: evidence from Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 38(2), pages 739-795, July.
    5. Gregory, Terry & Salomons, Anna & Zierahn, Ulrich, 2016. "Racing With or Against the Machine? Evidence from Europe," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145843, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    6. Domini, Giacomo & Grazzi, Marco & Moschella, Daniele & Treibich, Tania, 2022. "For whom the bell tolls: The firm-level effects of automation on wage and gender inequality," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(7).
    7. Eckhardt Bode & Stephan Brunow & Ingrid Ott & Alina Sorgner, 2019. "Worker Personality: Another Skill Bias beyond Education in the Digital Age," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 20(4), pages 254-294, November.
    8. Cirillo, Valeria & Evangelista, Rinaldo & Guarascio, Dario & Sostero, Matteo, 2021. "Digitalization, routineness and employment: An exploration on Italian task-based data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    9. Ben Vermeulen & Jan Kesselhut & Andreas Pyka & Pier Paolo Saviotti, 2018. "The Impact of Automation on Employment: Just the Usual Structural Change?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-27, May.
    10. Caselli, Mauro & Fracasso, Andrea & Scicchitano, Sergio & Traverso, Silvio & Tundis, Enrico, 2021. "Stop worrying and love the robot: An activity-based approach to assess the impact of robotization on employment dynamics," GLO Discussion Paper Series 802, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    11. Benjamin Meindl & Morgan R. Frank & Joana Mendonc{c}a, 2021. "Exposure of occupations to technologies of the fourth industrial revolution," Papers 2110.13317, arXiv.org.
    12. Gunther Tichy, 2016. "Geht der Arbeitsgesellschaft die Arbeit aus?," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 89(12), pages 853-871, December.
    13. HAMAGUCHI Nobuaki & KONDO Keisuke, 2018. "Regional Employment and Artificial Intelligence in Japan," Discussion papers 18032, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    14. Pouliakas, Konstantinos, 2018. "Determinants of Automation Risk in the EU Labour Market: A Skills-Needs Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 11829, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Thomsen, Stephan L, 2018. "Die Rolle der Computerisierung und Digitalisierung für Beschäftigung und Einkommen," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-645, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    16. van Hoorn, Andre, 2018. "The Political Economy of Automation: Occupational Automatability and Preferences for Redistribution," MPRA Paper 86460, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Sorgner, Alina & Bode, Eckhardt & Krieger-Boden, Christiane & Aneja, Urvashi & Coleman, Susan & Mishra, Vidisha & Robb, Alicia M., 2017. "The effects of digitalization on gender equaliy in the G20 economies: Women20 study," Kiel E-Books, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), number 170571.
    18. Jacobs, Julian, 2024. "The artificial intelligence shock and socio-political polarization," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    19. Czarnitzki, Dirk & Fernández, Gastón P. & Rammer, Christian, 2023. "Artificial intelligence and firm-level productivity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 188-205.
    20. David J. Deming, 2017. "The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(4), pages 1593-1640.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ijlaec:v:61:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s41027-018-0137-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.