Hello. I'm Fabien Petit.

Abstract: The increase in employment polarization observed in several high-income economies has coincided with a reduction in inter-generational mobility. This paper argues that the disappearance of middling jobs can drive changes in mobility, notably by removing a stepping-stone towards high-paying occupations for those from less well-off family backgrounds. Using data for two British cohorts we examine how the occupational outcomes of children depend on both initial occupations and occupational upgrading during their careers. We find that transitions across occupations are key for mobility and that the effect of parental income on those transitions has become stronger over time. Moreover, the impact of parental income increased the most in the regions where the share of middling employment fell the most, suggesting that greater employment polarization may be one of the factors behind the observed decline in mobility.

Abstract: This paper measures the exposure of industries and occupations to a broad set of emerging digital technologies and estimates their impact on European employment. Using a novel approach that leverages sentence transformers, we calculate exposure scores based on the semantic similarity between patents and international standard classifications, creating the open-access `TechXposure' database. Through a shift-share design, we instrument regional exposure to estimate the effects of these technologies on employment across European regions. We find a net positive impact, with growth in low- and high-skilled employment at the expense of middle-skilled jobs, suggesting ongoing job polarization. At the technology level, we observe significant heterogeneity: robots and machine learning negatively impact employment (except for high-skilled workers), while workflow management and information processing systems have positive effects. Our results suggest that focusing narrowly on specific technologies like AI and robots may overlook broader positive employment impacts stemming from complementarities among diverse digital technologies.

Abstract: This paper explores how life events change values and social identity when both are endogenous, i.e. when individuals identify with a social group based on shared values. Life events may introduce new information that shifts a value central to their social identity, misaligning individuals with their current social group’s values. Consequently, individuals may align with a new group, affecting previously unchanged values and creating spillover effects. Using cohort data, I find that life events, such as parenthood or sickness, significantly alter values and social identity. Overlooking the interdependence between values underestimates the extent to which life experiences affect individuals.

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of digital automation technologies—ICT, robots, and software and databases—on European regional labor markets during different investment phases of technology life cycles from 1995 to 2017. We first identify major breakthroughs and phases of investment acceleration and deceleration that characterize these life cycles. We then examine how exposure to these technologies affects employment and wages during various life cycle phases. We find both positive and negative short-term effects of automation on employment within these phases, which tend to offset each other in the long run. The impact on employment rates varies by technology and phase: ICT and software have significant effects in high-productivity, service-specialized regions, while for robots, the life cycle phases are more critical than regional characteristics in explaining employment impacts.

Abstract: This paper examines the labor market adjustments to four automation technologies (i.e. robots, communication technology, information technology, and software/database) in 227 regions across 22 European countries from 1995 to 2017. By constructing a measure of technology penetration, we estimate changes in regional employment and wages affected by automation technologies along with the reallocation of workers between sectors. We find that labor market adjustments to automation technologies differ according to i) the technology involved, ii) the sector of penetration, iii) the sectoral composition of the region, and iv) the region's technological capabilities. These adjustments are driven largely by the reallocation of low-paid workers across sectors.

Abstract: The coincidence in timing between the start of the decline of the labor share and the entry of the baby-boomers cohort into adulthood—entering the labor market and reaching voting age—has received no attention. I argue that the observed shift away from labor toward capital is a response to changes in labor market institutions endogenously determined by the age structure of the population through voting. The size of the boomer cohort gives them large political weight and allows them to change public policy in their favor when they are young and then old. These institutional changes have consequences for the wage bargaining to which firms respond by substituting labor with capital to thwart workers' appropriation of the rents. I develop a model which links public policy to wage bargaining and calibrate it for France and the US. Numerical simulations can replicate the decline of the labor share and labor market dynamics.