Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
    • Supplementary Material
    • Free Issue
    • Special Issues
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Subscribers
    • Institutions
    • Advertisers
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Editorial Board
  • Connect
    • Feedback
    • Help
    • Request JHR at your library
    • Alerts
  • Announcements
  • Special Issue
  • Other Publications
    • UW Press Journals

User menu

  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Human Resources
  • Other Publications
    • UW Press Journals
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart
Journal of Human Resources

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
    • Supplementary Material
    • Free Issue
    • Special Issues
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Subscribers
    • Institutions
    • Advertisers
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Editorial Board
  • Connect
    • Feedback
    • Help
    • Request JHR at your library
    • Alerts
  • Announcements
  • Special Issue
  • Follow uwp on Twitter
  • Follow JHR on Bluesky
Research ArticleArticles

Automation and Human Capital Adjustment

The Effect of Robots on College Enrollment1

Giuseppe Di Giacomo and Benjamin Lerch
Published online before print December 11, 2023, 1222-12684R1; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.1222-12684R1
Giuseppe Di Giacomo
Giuseppe Di Giacomo is a PhD candidate at Università della Svizzera italiana.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Benjamin Lerch
Benjamin Lerch is an economist at the Swiss Federal Finance Administration.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: benjamin.lerch{at}efv.admin.ch
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Supplemental
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF
Loading

References

    1. Acemoglu, Daron and
    2. David Autor
    . 2011. “Skills, Tasks and Technologies: Implications for Employment and Earnings.” In Handbook of Labor Economics, Vol. 4, ed. Elsevier: 1043–1171.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
    1. Acemoglu, Daron and
    2. David Autor
    . 2012. “What Does Human Capital Do? A Review of Goldin and Katz’s The Race between Education and Technology.” Journal of Economic Literature 50(2): 426–63.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
    1. Acemoglu, Daron and
    2. Pascual Restrepo
    . 2020. “Robots and Jobs: Evidence from US Labor Markets.” Journal of Political Economy 128(6):2188–2244.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
    1. Acemoglu, Daron and
    2. Pascual Restrepo
    . 2022. “Tasks, Automation, and the Rise in US Wage Inequality.” Econometrica 90(5):1973–2016.
    OpenUrl
    1. Altonji, Joseph G,
    2. Lisa B Kahn, and
    3. Jamin D Speer
    . 2016. “Cashier or Consultant? Entry Labor Market Conditions, Field of Study, and Career Success.” Journal of Labor Economics 34(S1):S361–S401.
    OpenUrl
    1. Aoun, Joseph E.
    2017. “Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.” MIT Press, August 25.
    1. Athreya, Kartikand and
    2. Janice Eberly
    . 2021. “Risk, the College Premium, and Aggregate Human Capital Investment.” American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 13(2):168–213.
    OpenUrl
    1. Atkin, David.
    2016. “Endogenous Skill Acquisition and Export Manufacturing in Mexico,” American Economic Review 106(8):2046–85.
    OpenUrl
    1. Autor, David and
    2. David Dorn
    . 2013. “The Growth of Low-Skill Service Jobs and the Polarization of the US Labor Market.” American Economic Review 103(5): 1553–97.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
    1. Autor, Caroline Chin,
    2. Anna M Salomons, and
    3. Bryan Seegmiller
    . 2022. “New Frontiers: The Origins and Content of New Work, 1940–2018.” National Bureau of Economic Research No. w30389.
    1. Autor, Claudia Goldin, and
    2. Lawrence F Katz
    . 2020. “Extending the Race Between Education and Technology.” AEA Papers and Proceedings 110:347–351.
    OpenUrl
    1. Autor, David Dorn, and
    2. Gordon Hanson
    . 2013. “The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States” American Economic Review 103(6):2121–68.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
    1. Autor, Frank Levy, and
    2. Richard J Murnane
    . 2003. “The Skill Content of Recent Technological Change: An Empirical Exploration.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 118(4):1279–1333.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
  1. BEA. 2021, “Integrated Industry-Level Production Account (KLEMS).” Technical Report, Bureau of Economic Affairs. https://www.bea.gov/data/special-topics/integrated-industry-level-production-account-klems.
    1. Beaudry, Paul,
    2. David A Green, and
    3. Benjamin M Sand
    . 2016. “The Great Reversal in the Demand for Skill and Cognitive Tasks.” Journal of Labor Economics 34(S1):S199–S247.
    OpenUrl
    1. Betts, Julian Rand and
    2. Laurel L McFarland
    . 1995. “Safe Port in a Storm: The impact of Labor Market Conditions on Community College Enrollments.” Journal of Human Resources 30(4):741–765.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
    1. Blom, Erica,
    2. Brian C Cadena, and
    3. Benjamin J Keys
    . 2021. “Investment Over the Business Cycle: Insights from College Major Choice.” Journal of Labor Economics 39(4):1043–1082.
    OpenUrl
    1. Bonfiglioli, Alessandra,
    2. Rosario Crin,
    3. Harald Fadinger, and
    4. Gino Gancia
    . 2023. “Robot Imports and Firm-Level Outcomes.” CESifo Working Paper, No. 8741, Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich.
    1. Borusyak, Kirill,
    2. Peter Hull, and
    3. Xavier Jaravel
    . 2022, “Quasi-Experimental Shift-Share Research Designs.” The Review of Economic Studies 89(1):181–213.
    OpenUrl
    1. Branco, Danyelle,
    2. Bladimir Carrillo, and
    3. Wilman Iglesias
    . 2023. “Routine-Biased Technological Change and Endogenous Skill Investments.” Working Paper.
    1. Burga, Ramiro and
    2. Sarah Turner
    . 2022. “Does Enrollment Lead to Completion? Measuring Adjustments in Education to Local Labor Market Shocks.” Journal of Human Resources 58(3):0121–11408.
    OpenUrl
    1. Cameron, Stephen V and
    2. Christopher Taber
    . 2004. “Estimation of Educational Borrowing Constraints Using Returns to Schooling.” Journal of political Economy 112(1):132–182.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
    1. Card, David and
    2. John E DiNardo
    . 2002. “Skill-Biased Technological Change and Rising Wage Inequality: Some Problems and Puzzles.” Journal of Labor Economics 20(4):733–783.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
    1. Cascio, Elizabeth U and
    2. Ayushi Narayan
    . 2022. “Who Needs a Fracking Education? The Educational Response to Low-Skill-Biased Technological Change.” ILR Review 75(1):56–89.
    OpenUrl
    1. Cellini, Stephanie Riegg.
    2005. “Community Colleges and Proprietary Schools: A Comparison of Subbaccalaureate Postsecondary Institutions.” California Center for Population Research (CCPR) Working Paper 012-05.
    1. Cellini, Stephanie Riegg.
    2010. “Financial Aid and For-Profit Colleges: Does Aid Encourage Entry?” Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 29(3):526–552.
    OpenUrl
    1. Cellini, Stephanie Riegg and
    2. Claudia Goldin
    . 2014. “Does Federal Student Aid Raise Tuition? New Evidence on For-Profit Colleges.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 6(4): 174–206.
    OpenUrl
    1. Chuan, Amanda and
    2. Weilong Zhang
    . 2022. “Non-College Occupations, Workplace Routinization, and the Gender Gap in College Enrollment.” Workplace Routinization, and the Gender Gap in College Enrollment, February 11.
    1. Curtis, E Mark,
    2. Daniel G Garrett,
    3. Eric C Ohrn,
    4. Kevin A Roberts, and
    5. Juan Carlos Suárez Serrato
    . 2021. “Capital Investment and Labor Demand.” National Bureau of Economic Research No. w29485.
    1. Dauth, Wolfgang,
    2. Sebastian Findeisen,
    3. Jens Suedekum, and
    4. Nicole Woessner
    . 2021. “The Adjustment of Labor Markets to Robots.” Journal of the European Economic Association 19(6):3104–3153.
    OpenUrl
    1. Ebrahimian, Mehran.
    2023. “Student Loans and Social Mobility.” Jacobs Levy Equity Management Center for Quantitative Financial Research Paper. February 3.
    1. Faber, Marius,
    2. Andrés P Sarto, and
    3. Marco Tabellini
    . 2023. “Local Shocks and Internal Migration: The Disparate Effects of Robots and Chinese Imports in the US.” National Bureau of Economic Research No. w30048.
    1. Foote, Andrew and
    2. Michel Grosz
    . 2020. “The Effect of Local Labor Market Downturns on Postsecondary Enrollment and Program Choice.” Education Finance and Policy 15(4):593–622.
    OpenUrl
    1. Ge, Suqin and
    2. Yu Zhou
    . 2020. “Robots, Computers, and the Gender Wage Gap.” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 178:194–222.
    OpenUrl
    1. Goldin, Claudia and
    2. Lawrence F Katz
    . 2010. “The Race Between Education and Technology” Harvard University Press, July 1.
    1. Goldsmith-Pinkham, Paul,
    2. Isaac Sorkin, and
    3. Henry Swift
    . 2020. “Bartik Instruments: What, When, Why, and How.” American Economic Review 110(8):2586–2624.
    OpenUrl
    1. Goos, Maarten,
    2. Alan Manning, and
    3. Anna Salomons
    . 2009. “Job Polarization in Europe,” American economic review 99(2):58–63.
    OpenUrlCrossRef
    1. Graetz, Georg and
    2. Guy Michaels
    . 2018. “Robots at Work.” Review of Economics and Statistics 100(5):753–768.
    OpenUrl
    1. Greenland, Andrew and
    2. John Lopresti
    . 2016. “Import Exposure and Human Capital Adjustment: Evidence from the US.” Journal of International economics 100:50–60.
    OpenUrl
    1. Grodsky, Eric and
    2. Demetra Kalogrides
    . 2008. “The Declining Significance of Race in College Admissions Decisions.” American Journal of Education 115(1): 1–33.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
    1. Hickman, Daniel C and
    2. William W Olney
    , “Globalization and Investment in Human Capital.” ILR Review 64(4):654–672.
    1. Hirvonen, Johannes,
    2. Aapo Stenhammar, and
    3. Joonas Tuhkuri
    . 2022. “New Evidence on the Effect of Technology on Employment and Skill Demand.” Taloustieto Oy, May 6.
  2. IFR. 2018. “World Robotics 2018.” Technical Report, International Federation of Robotics https://ifr.org.
  3. IPEDS. 2021. “U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).” Technical Report, NCES IPEDS. https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/use-the-data.
    1. Jägger, Kirsten.
    2017. “EU KLEMS Growth and Productivity Accounts 2017 release.” Description of Methodology and General Notes, EU KLEMS. http://www.euklems.net.
    1. Jensen, Robert.
    2010. “The (Perceived) Returns to Education and the Demand for Schooling.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 125(2):515–548.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
    1. Juhn, Chinhui,
    2. Kevin M Murphy, and
    3. Brooks Pierce
    . 1993. “Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill.” Journal of political Economy 101(3):410–442.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
    1. Katz, Lawrence F and
    2. Kevin M Murphy
    . 1992. “Changes in Relative Wages, 1963–1987: Supply and Demand Factors.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 107(1):35–78.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
    1. Krusell, Per,
    2. Lee E Ohanian,
    3. José-Víctor Ríos-Rull, and
    4. Giovanni L Violante
    . 2000. “Capital-Skill Complementarity and Inequality: A Macroeconomic Analysis.” Econometrica 68(5):1029–1053.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
    1. Lerch, Benjamin.
    2022. “Robots and Non-participation in the US: Where Have All the Workers Gone?.” Available at SSRN 3650905.
    1. Lerch, Benjamin.
    2023. “From Blue to Steel-Collar Jobs: The Decline in Employment Gaps?.” Available at SSRN 3882589.
    1. Lewis, Ethan.
    2011. “Immigration, Skill Mix, and Capital Skill Complementarity.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 126(2):1029–1069.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
    1. Liu, Shimeng,
    2. Weizeng Sun, and
    3. John V Winters
    . 2019. “Up in STEM, Down in Business: Changing College Major Decisions with the Great Recession.” Contemporary Economic Policy 37(3):476–491.
    OpenUrl
    1. Lovenheim, Michael F.
    2011. “The Effect of Liquid Housing Wealth on College Enrollment.” Journal of Labor Economics 29(4):741–771.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
    1. Manoli, Dayand Nicholas Turner.
    2018. “Cash-on-Hand and College Enrollment: Evidence from Population Tax Data and the Earned Income Tax Credit.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 10(2):242–71.
    OpenUrl
    1. Manski, Charles F and
    2. David A Wise
    . 1983. “College Choice in America”. Harvard University Press, December 31.
    1. Morphew, Christopher C and
    2. Matthew Hartley
    . 2006. “Mission Statements: A Thematic Analysis of Rhetoric Across Institutional Type.” The Journal of Higher Education 77(3):456–471.
    OpenUrlCrossRefWeb of Science
    1. Prettner, Klaus and
    2. Holger Strulik
    . 2020. “Innovation, Automation, and Inequality: Policy Challenges in the Race Against the Machine.” Journal of Monetary Economics 116:249–265.
    OpenUrl
    1. Ruggles, Steven,
    2. Sarah Flood,
    3. Ronald Goeken,
    4. Josiah Grover,
    5. Erin Meyer,
    6. Jose Pacas, and
    7. Matthew Sobek
    . 2019. “IPUMS USA: Version 9.0 [dataset]”. Technical Report. https://doi.org/10.18128/D010.V9.0.
    1. Tinbergen, Jan.
    1974. “Substitution of Graduate by Other Labour.” Kyklos: International Review for Social Sciences, January 1.
    1. Tolbert, Charles M and
    2. Molly Sizer
    . 1996. “US Commuting Zones and Labor Market Areas: A 1990 Update.” Technical Report.
    1. Tuhkuri, Joonas.
    2021. “The Surprising Intergenerational Effects of Manufacturing Decline.” MIT Working Paper.
    1. Weinstein, Russell.
    2020. “Local Labor Markets and Human Capital Investments.” Journal of Human Resources 1119–10566R2.
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Journal of Human Resources: 61 (5)
Journal of Human Resources
Vol. 61, Issue 5
1 Sep 2026
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • Cover (PDF)
  • Index by author
  • Front Matter (PDF)
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Journal of Human Resources.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Automation and Human Capital Adjustment
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Journal of Human Resources
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Journal of Human Resources web site.
Citation Tools
Automation and Human Capital Adjustment
Giuseppe Di Giacomo, Benjamin Lerch
Journal of Human Resources Dec 2023, 1222-12684R1; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.1222-12684R1

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Automation and Human Capital Adjustment
Giuseppe Di Giacomo, Benjamin Lerch
Journal of Human Resources Dec 2023, 1222-12684R1; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.1222-12684R1
Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One
Bookmark this article

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Supplemental
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Political Stressors and Birth Outcomes
  • The Good Daughter?
  • Implementing Home-Based Educational Interventions at Scale
Show more Articles

Similar Articles

Keywords

  • industrial robots
  • labor demand
  • Human Capital
  • college enrollment
  • I23
  • J23
  • J24
UW Press logo

© 2026 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

Powered by HighWire