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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• about 6 years ago

Technology-driven widespread unemployment ("the robots will take all the jobs") is, like wizards who fly spaceships, a fun premise for science fiction but difficult to find examples for in economic history. (The best example I know is for horses.)

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• about 6 years ago
Replying to @patio11

I understand people who are extremely concerned by it, but I think you need a theory for it which successfully predicts bank teller employment trends over the last 50 years prior to justifying the number of column inches it gets.

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• about 6 years ago
Replying to @patio11

"Haha Patrick you're not going to tell me bank teller employment is up since we made a machine literally called Automated Teller Machine are you." Bessen, 2015: https://t.co/wf3eZfMiqd

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Patrick McKenzie@patio11• about 6 years ago
Replying to @patio11

"Wait why did that happen?" Short version: the ATM makes each bank branch need less tellers to operate at a desired level of service, but the growth of the economy (and the tech-driven decline in cost of bank branch OpEx) caused branch count to outgrow decline in tellers/branch.

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