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Technology, Labor and Globalization: Contemporary Challenges

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Abstract

From 2008, the world economy has been hit by a series of negative shocks and seems to be suffering from one of the most long-drawn recessions in history. It is argued that one underlying factor driving this festering crisis is the rise of digital technology which is reducing the demand for labor and creating an increasingly common labor market for the world. The paper elaborates on this hypothesis and goes on to discuss how this is impacting India and presents ideas on how India should respond to it in the future.

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Fig. 1

Source: Ministry of Finance data, 2017, Government of India

Fig. 2

Source: ILO (2014)

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Notes

  1. See https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/rising-inequality-globalization-by-kaushik-basu-2017-04?barrier=accesspaylog.

  2. For some recent data-based analysis, see Dewan and Sehgal (2018) and Sanyal (2018). My two assessments of the demonetization, one immediately after it was announced and the other after a year appeared in the New York Times:https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/27/opinion/in-india-black-money-makes-for-bad-policy.html and https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/29/opinion/india-and-the-visible-hand-of-the-market.html.

  3. Around these broad trends are many special drivers. Recently, I have argued elsewhere (see Basu and Stiglitz, 2015) that the Eurozone is being restrained from doing better by some of its own laws such as provisions in the Treaty of Lisbon. But the problems are getting exacerbated by a common technological factor.

  4. See https://www.cmie.com/kommon/bin/sr.php?kall=warticle&dt=2018-07-17%2009:45:21&msec=123.

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  1. Department of Economics, Cornell University, Uris Hall, Room 422, Tower Road, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Kaushik Basu

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  1. Kaushik Basu
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This is a revised version of the lecture delivered at IGIDR, Mumbai, on 19th December, 2018

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Basu, K. Technology, Labor and Globalization: Contemporary Challenges. Ind. J. Labour Econ. 62, 1–13 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41027-019-00157-w

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