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Open Access Knowledge and Scholarship

Date of Award

10-2025

Culminating Project Type

Starred Paper

Styleguide

apa

Degree Name

Applied Economics: M.S.

Department

Economics

College

School of Public Affairs

First Advisor

Komai Molle, Mana

Second Advisor

Rebeck, Kenneth C

Third Advisor

Lo, Ming C

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Keywords and Subject Headings

Industrial robots; Labor productivity; Total factor productivity; Cross-country panel data

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between industrial robot adoption and productivity across five major robot-adopting economies—China, Japan, South Korea, the United States, and Germany—during 2011–2022. Using annual country-level data from the International Federation of Robotics, the World Bank, and other sources, the study estimates two-way fixed-effects regressions to assess how changes in robot density relate to labor productivity and total factor productivity (TFP). Results show that robot density is positively associated with labor productivity but negatively associated with TFP within countries over time. The positive coefficient for labor productivity suggests that automation complements labor efficiency and organizational improvements, while the negative TFP estimate likely reflects short-term adjustment and composition effects. These findings highlight the importance of human capital and institutional adaptation in realizing the productivity benefits of automation and provide a cross-country perspective on how industrial robot diffusion shapes modern economic performance.

Comments/Acknowledgements

This starred paper was completed under the supervision of Dr. Mana Komai-Molle, with committee members Dr. Ming C. Lo and Dr. Kenneth C. Rebeck. I am grateful for their guidance and valuable feedback throughout this project.

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