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Automation versus openness: support for policies to address job threats

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2023

Alexander Kuo Open the ORCID record for Alexander Kuo [Opens in a new window] ,
Dulce Manzano  and
Aina Gallego
Alexander Kuo*
Affiliation:
Department of Politics and International Relations (DPIR) and Christ Church, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Dulce Manzano
Affiliation:
Instituto de Políticas y Bienes Públicos (IPP) (Institute for Policies and Public Goods) at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) (Spanish National Research Council), Madrid, Spain
Aina Gallego
Affiliation:
Departament de Ciència Política (Department of Political Science), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
*
Corresponding author: Alexander Kuo; Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Does the threat of automation of workers’ employment provoke distinct policy preferences from that of globalization? We present hypotheses about how these different threats affect support for policies to prevent such shocks as well as policies to compensate via redistribution. Using vignettes and conjoint experiments embedded in survey evidence from Spain, we find that the threat of automation does not provoke any greater demand for redistribution than does openness. Nor does job loss due to automation provoke beliefs of greater deservingness of compensatory transfers, compared to job loss from openness. While the threat of offshoring and hiring foreign workers increases support for policies to prevent this process from occurring, scenarios of robot substitution do not provoke a similar reaction. These results suggest policies to prioritize automation over openness may gain less political traction.

Keywords

automationpolicy preferencessurvey experimenttechnology
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , March 2024 , pp. 1 - 23
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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