Explaining the Labor Share: Automation Vs Labor Market Institutions
构建模型分析美国劳动份额变化，发现自动化降低劳动份额但增加就业和工资，而劳动力市场制度对1987年后劳动份额下降影响不大。
We propose a simple model to assess the evolution of the US labor share and how automation affects employment. In our model, heterogeneous firms may choose a manual technology and hire a worker subject to matching frictions. Alternatively, they may choose an automated technology and produce using only machines (robots). Our model suggests that automation reduces the labor share but increases employment and wages. Furthermore, our model suggests that labor market institutions are unlikely to have played a major role in the fall of the US labor share after 1987. Instead, technological factors are a more promising candidate.