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Robots and the rise of European superstar firms

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  • Stiebale, Joel
  • Südekum, Jens
  • Woessner, Nicole

Abstract

We study the impact of a recent digital automation technology - industrial robotics - on the distribution of sales, productivity, markups, and profits within industries. Our empirical analysis combines data on the industry-level stock of industrial robots with firms' balance sheet data for six European countries from 2004 to 2013. We find that robots disproportionally raise productivity in those firms that are already most productive to begin with. Those firms are able to increase their markups and overall profits, while they tend to decline for less profitable firms within the same industry, country and year. We also show that robots contribute to the falling aggregate labor income share through a rising concentration of industry sales in highly productive firms with low firm-specific labor shares. In sum, our paper suggests that robots boost the emergence of superstar firms within European manufacturing, and thereby shifts the functional income distribution away from wages and towards profits.

Suggested Citation

  • Stiebale, Joel & Südekum, Jens & Woessner, Nicole, 2020. "Robots and the rise of European superstar firms," DICE Discussion Papers 347, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:dicedp:347
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Automation; Robots; Productivity; Markups; Labor share; Superstar firms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D4 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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