Abstract
This essay examines whether robots will lead to the reshoring of activity from low-wage countries to rich countries, leading to a revival of manufacturing in rich countries. I argue that reshoring will not lead to an employment boom in rich countries, because the brilliant robots are a capital-biased technology, and as such, they potentially replace smart people. As a result, the skill premium – the wage discrepancy between a university graduate and a high school graduate – is declining in Europe. I argue further that the expansion of higher education has been too aggressive in light of the capital bias of digital technology.
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Prof. Dr. Dalia Marin ist Professorin an der Volkwirtschaftlichen Fakultät der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.