abstract: 'Automation is likely to impact on developing countries in different ways

  to the way automation affects high-income countries. The poorer a

  country is, the more jobs it has that are in principle-automatable

  because the kinds of jobs common in developing countries-such as routine

  work-are substantially more susceptible to automation than the jobs that

  dominate high-income economies. This matters because employment

  generation is crucial to spreading the benefits of economic growth

  broadly and to reducing global poverty. We argue that the rise of a

  global ``robot reserve army{''''} has profound effects on labor markets

  and structural transformation in developing countries, but rather than

  causing mass unemployment, AI and robots are more likely to lead to

  stagnant wages and premature deindustrialization. As agricultural and

  manufacturing jobs are automated, workers will continue to flood the

  service sector. This will itself hinder poverty reduction and likely put

  upward pressure on national inequality, weakening the poverty-reducing

  power of growth, and potentially placing the existing social contract

  under strain. How developing countries should respond in terms of public

  policy is a crucial question, affecting not only middle-income

  developing countries, but even the very poorest countries.'
affiliation: 'Kiely, R (Corresponding Author), Univ Vienna, Vienna, Austria.

  Kiely, Ray, Univ Vienna, Vienna, Austria.

  Sumner, Andy, Kings Coll London, London, England.'
author: Kiely, Ray and Sumner, Andy
author_list:
- family: Kiely
  given: Ray
- family: Sumner
  given: Andy
book-author: 'Schlogl, L

  Sumner, A'
booktitle: 'DISRUPTED DEVELOPMENT AND THE FUTURE OF INEQUALITY IN THE AGE OF

  AUTOMATION'
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-30131-6\_1
files: []
isbn: 978-3-030-30131-6; 978-3-030-30130-9
keywords: 'Automation; Digitization; Labor-saving technology; Developing countries;

  Economic development; Jobs'
keywords-plus: 'TECHNOLOGICAL-CHANGE; UNBALANCED GROWTH; STRUCTURAL-CHANGE; MODEL;

  POLARIZATION; HISTORY; JOBS; SUBSTITUTION; UNEMPLOYMENT; EMPLOYMENT'
language: English
number-of-cited-references: '155'
pages: 1+
papis_id: 1bf72ad59aa3d75ac35b918ad4e5486f
ref: Kiely2020disrupteddevelopment
series: Rethinking International Development
times-cited: '0'
title: Disrupted Development and the Future of Inequality in the Age of Automation
  Introduction
type: Editorial Material; Book Chapter
unique-id: WOS:000797521800001
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '1'
web-of-science-categories: Development Studies; Regional \& Urban Planning; Public
  Administration
year: '2020'