A note for CGD. There is a lot we don’t know about what automation will mean for jobs in the future, including its impact (if any) on gender inequality. This note reviews evidence and forecasts on that question and makes four main points: (i) Past automation has been (broadly) positive for women’s average quality of life, economic empowerment, and equality. (ii) Forecasts of the gendered impact of automation and AI going forward based on the current distribution of employment suggest considerable uncertainty and a gender inequality of impact that is marginal compared to the potential impact overall. (iii) The bigger risk—and/or opportunity—is likely to be in the combined impact of automation, policy, and social norms in changing the type of work that is seen as male or female. (iv) Minimizing any potential aggravating impact of automation and AI on inequalities in economic power in the future can best be achieved by maximizing economic equality today.
Charles Kenny
Books, Papers and Articles
Charles Kenny writes about global development — what’s working, what isn’t, and how the world can do better. An economist who spent fifteen years at the World Bank, he is now a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, DC.
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A CGD blog. In this episode of Sounds Robotic, host Charles Kenny talks with Shahid Yusuf, who argues that the old path to rapid growth-manufacturing export goods-is less and less of an option for poorer countries, and there isn’t a clear new path to replace it.
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A CGD blog. I wrote last week that with an Administration and Congress both prioritizing gender equality and women’s economic empowerment now was a good time to put in place legislation that would leverage the power of US-based multinational enterprises to encourage gender equality in the workp…
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A CGD blog. Today, the Trump administration rolled out the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative (W-GDP). Pillars one and two seem to suggest a rebranding of existing funding for women’s economic empowerment efforts in USAID and a repackaging of previously announced initiatives at the…
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A CGD blog. In this episode of Sounds Robotic, we discuss how you can make your data more meaningful, the dangers of big data in cases of oppression, and whether political freedom is really a requirement for technological development.
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A CGD blog with Holly Shulman. Associate Professor of Political Science Yuen Yuen Ang on how to make your data more meaningful, the dangers of big data in cases of oppression, and whether political freedom is really a requirement for technological development.
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Undocumented immigrants provide a lot of child care. If they aren’t around, it is harder for working mothers. For The Economist.
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Scare people that they may not be able to apply for citizenship later, they will apply for citizenship now. Me in the Economist.
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The U.S. shouldn’t get to pick the head of the World Bank. And not just because Trump is president. Me in Slate.
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For the Economist –gay marriage and more minorities in the workforce are good for the economy. Patriotic heterosexual white men should support equality.
Charles Kenny 