Attitudes toward automation and the demand for policies addressing job loss: The effects of information about trade-offs

Beatrice Magistro, Peter Loewen, Bart Bonikowski, Sophie Borwein, Blake Lee-Whiting

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Does providing information about the costs and benefits of automation affect the perceived fairness of a firm's decision to automate or support for government policies addressing automation's labor market consequences? To answer these questions, we use data from vignette and conjoint experiments across four advanced economies (Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US). Our results show that despite people's relatively fixed policy preferences, their evaluation of the fairness of automation-and therefore potentially the issue's political salience-is sensitive to information about its trade-offs, especially information about price changes attributable to automated labor. This suggests that the political impact of automation may depend on how it is framed by the media and political actors.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)783-798
    Number of pages16
    JournalPolitical Science Research and Methods
    Volume12
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Oct 1 2024

    Keywords

    • automation
    • conjoint experiment
    • costs and benefits
    • fairness
    • methodology
    • policy preferences
    • political economy
    • survey
    • technological change
    • trade-offs

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Sociology and Political Science
    • Political Science and International Relations

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