This paper studies the effects of automation in economies with labor market distortions that generate worker rents …--wages above opportunity cost--in some jobs. We show that automation targets high-rent tasks, dissipating rents and amplifying wage … losses from automation. It also reduces within-group wage dispersion for exposed groups. Automation-driven rent dissipation …

We present a framework for understanding the effects of automation and other types of technological changes on labor … allocation of tasks to capital and labor - the task content of production. Automation, which enables capital to replace labor in … a result, automation always reduces the labor share in value added and may reduce labor demand even as it raises …