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The Human Capital — Artificial Intelligence Symbiosis and Economic Growth

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  • Orlando Gomes

    (Lisbon Accounting and Business School – Polytechnic University of Lisbon (ISCAL-IPL) and CEFAGE (Univ. Évora - ISCAL) Research Center)

Abstract

This paper contributes to the recent literature on the economic growth implications of automation and artificial intelligence (AI), by devising and exploring the dynamics of an analytical model featuring the gradual substitution of labor by automated processes. In the proposed setting, a symbiotic relation between the expansion of AI and the accumulation of human capital stands out as the driver of long-term sustained growth. Two versions of the model are scrutinized. In the first version, the representative capitalist is an optimal planner, while workers (who are heterogeneous regarding their productivity levels) are hand-to-mouth consumers. In the second version, every agent formulates an intertemporal plan and may, simultaneously, be a worker and an investor. This difference in context is vital for identifying the potential beneficiaries of the implementation of labor-saving technologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Orlando Gomes, 2025. "The Human Capital — Artificial Intelligence Symbiosis and Economic Growth," De Economist, Springer, vol. 173(2), pages 331-365, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:decono:v:173:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s10645-025-09452-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10645-025-09452-y
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity

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