“Automation” of Manufacturing in the Late Nineteenth Century: The Hand and Machine Labor Study
分析了19世纪末美国劳工部的手工与机器劳动数据，研究任务层面从手工到机器生产的转变以及蒸汽动力对劳动生产率的影响，为理解现代自动化对工作的影响提供历史视角。
Recent advances in artificial intelligence and robotics have generated a robust debate about the future of work. An analogous debate occurred in the late nineteenth century when mechanization first transformed manufacturing. We analyze an extraordinary dataset from the late nineteenth century, the Hand and Machine Labor study carried out by the US Department of Labor in the mid-1890s. We focus on transitions at the task level from hand to machine production, and on the impact of inanimate power, especially of steam power, on labor productivity. Our analysis sheds light on the ability of modern task-based models to account for the effects of historical mechanization.