Drinking in despair: Unintended consequences of automation in China
利用中国个体面板数据和地级市机器人暴露率，研究发现机器人暴露率每增加1个单位，问题饮酒概率上升2.2个百分点，其机制是失业、收入脆弱性和组织参与减少导致的负面情绪，自动化加剧了健康不平等。
The side effects of technological progress on the economy have been discussed frequently, but little is known regarding its health consequences. By combining the national individual-level panel data of alcohol drinking with the prefecture-level robot exposure rate in China, we find that one more robot exposure rate could induce up to 2.2% points increase in the probability of problem drinking. Such a pattern of problem drinking is explained by negative emotions, which can be ascribed to job loss due to substitution, higher income vulnerability, and reduced organization participation. Further, we provide evidence that automation can incur health costs, particularly for easily substituted workers, which would exacerbate health inequality in China. This paper sheds light on the impact of automation and the social incentives of problem drinking, emphasizing the possibly heterogeneous health cost accompanied by the automation process.