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Tracking the rise of robots: A survey of the IFR database and its applications

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  • Klump, Rainer
  • Jurkat, Anne
  • Schneider, Florian

Abstract

Robots are continuously transforming industrial production worldwide and thereby also inducing changes in a variety of production-related economic and social relations. While some observers call this transformation an unprecedented "revolution", others regard it as a common pattern of capitalist development. This paper contributes to the literature on the effects of the rise of industrial robots in three ways. Firstly, we describe the historic evolution and organizational structure of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), which collects data on the international distribution of industrial robots by country, industry, and application from industrial robot suppliers worldwide since 1993. Secondly, we extensively analyze this IFR dataset on industrial robots and point out its specificities and limitations. We develop a correspondence table between IFR industry classification and the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) Revision 4 and shed some light on the price development of industrial robots by compiling data on robot price indices. We further compute implicit depreciation rates inherent to the operational stocks of robots in the IFR dataset and find an average depreciation rate of aggregate robot stocks between 4% and 7% per year between 1993 and 2019. Moreover, tracking the share of industrial robots that are not classified to any industry or application we find that their share in total robot stocks has sharply declined after 2005. The average value of 45% of unspecified industrial robots at country level is therefore likely to shrink in the future. We also compare IFR data with other data sources such as UN Comtrade data on net imports and unit prices of industrial robots or data on robot adoption from firm-level surveys in selected countries. Thirdly, we provide a comprehensive overview of the empirical research on industrial robots that is based on the IFR dataset. We identify four important strands of research on the rise of robots: (i) patterns of robot adoption and industrial organization, (ii) productivity and growth effect of robot adoption, (iii) its impact on employment and wages, and (iv) its influence on demographics, health, and politics.

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  • Klump, Rainer & Jurkat, Anne & Schneider, Florian, 2021. "Tracking the rise of robots: A survey of the IFR database and its applications," MPRA Paper 107909, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:107909
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    Cited by:

    1. Zuazu-Bermejo, Izaskun, 2022. "Robots and women in manufacturing employment," ifso working paper series 19, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Socioeconomics (ifso).
    2. David E. Bloom & Klaus Prettner & Jamel Saadaoui & Mario Veruete, 2023. "Artificial intelligence and the skill premium," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp353, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    3. Prettner, Klaus, 2023. "Stagnant wages in the face of rising labor productivity: The potential role of industrial robots," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PD).
    4. Baek, Seungjin & Jeong, Deokjae, 2023. "Factors Influencing Labor Share: Automation, Task Innovation, and Elasticity of Substitution," MPRA Paper 118730, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Pinheiro, Alexandra & Sochirca, Elena & Afonso, Oscar & Neves, Pedro Cunha, 2023. "Automation and off(re)shoring: A meta-regression analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    6. Wang, Ruiyu & Shi, Jinchuan & Ye, Bing, 2022. "Can robots reshape gender role attitudes?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    7. Eder, Andreas & Koller, Wolfgang & Mahlberg, Bernhard, 2022. "The contribution of industrial robots to labor productivity growth and economic convergence: A production frontier approach," MPRA Paper 113126, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Robots; productivity; growth; employment; industry classification; depreciation rates; IFR;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • E1 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models
    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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