Using a quantitative model that features technical progress in automation and endogenous skill choice, we show that …, given the current U.S. tax system, a sustained fall in automation costs can lead to a massive rise in income inequality. We …, optimal robot taxes are zero …

. Low-skill (high-skill) automation corresponds to tasks performed by low-skill (high-skill) labor being taken over by … capital. Automation displaces the type of labor it directly affects, depressing its wage. Through ripple effects, automation … also affects the real wage of other workers. Counteracting these forces, automation creates a positive productivity effect …

valued? We provide a general theory of optimal technology regulation in a second best world, with rich heterogeneity across … on robots and trade, the magnitude of these taxes may decrease as the process of automation and globalization deepens and …

technology, prices, and factor supplies. The model is based on the neoclassical theory of production, and is implemented by …