Title: Spurring monopolies and fettering automation? Determinants of variations of output, employment and productivity in OECD automotive industries following the financial crisis

Authors: Benjamin Ferschli; Miriam Rehm; Stella Zilian

Addresses: University of Oxford, St. Antony's College, 62 Woodstock Rd., Oxford OX2 6JF, UK ' Universität Duisburg-Essen, Fakultät für, Gesellschaftswissenschaften, Institut für Sozioökonomie, Lotharstr. 65, 47057 Duisburg, Germany ' Wiener Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsvergleiche, Rahlgasse 3, 1060 Wien, Austria

Abstract: This paper estimates the effects robotic automation has had on output, employment and labour productivity, in the automotive sectors of 22 OECD countries following the financial crisis. The results of the analysis show that robot-use is a significant factor in explaining labour productivity, employment and output in the analysed period. However, its effects show significant variation between sectors and countries. In explaining this variation, the paper illustrates the importance of the relative strength of 'employment' and 'output' of automation, highlighting differences in trajectory between 'core' and 'periphery' automotive sectors within the OECD. The findings therefore lend credence to accounts which have argued that rather than automation per se, it is structural changes and crisis, in particular of output, which have had the most significant influence on manufacturing employment in the recent decades.

Keywords: automation; stagnation; productivity; robots; automotive sector; manufacturing sector; monopolisation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJATM.2025.148827

International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 2025 Vol.25 No.3, pp.220 - 249

Received: 29 Jul 2024
Accepted: 28 Mar 2025
Published online: 26 Sep 2025 *

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