Pietro Corsi (p)

Guang Yang

As technological advancements widen the scope of automatable tasks, labour and technology become competitors in the execution of tasks. While technology complements workers in performing non-routine tasks, it also substitutes jobs requiring codifiable, routine tasks. The literature on tasks emphasizes that these jobs are predominantly performed by middle-skill workers, whose proportion in the income distribution is progressively decreasing, with severe socio-economic consequences. This study aims to examine the routinization hypothesis through an investigation of the effects of automation technologies adoption on Italian local labour markets between the years 2009 and 2017. Using a survey targeted at Italian workers, this research builds a country-specific metric of task content which is mapped to employment data to assess the effects of industrial robot exposure on the Italian workforce. This analysis adopts a novel framework for the classification of jobs task content which improves previous task operationalizations on several aspects, including decreased measurement bias, and the ability to capture single, as well as joint task distributions. The findings of this study indicate that, while the adoption of automation technologies is not likely to have a negative impact on overall employment growth, it leads to significant changes in the demand for different types of task-specialized occupational profiles, consistently with the routinization hypothesis. Specifically, the results demonstrate that greater exposure to industrial robots is associated with a decline in routine employment and an increase in non-routine and cognitive employment. However, contrary to previous studies, exposure is not linked to a more pronounced pattern of employment polarization, but rather to an increase in demand for low-skill workers without a corresponding rise in high-skill jobs. This study also investigates the effects of technological adoption on neighbouring local labour markets, emphasizing the distinct impacts on urban and non-urban areas. While previous research on innovation mainly focused on spillover effects from urban to non-urban regions, this study examines the impact of robot adoption in non-urban areas on urban labour markets, since industrial robots are predominantly implemented in non-urban settings. The findings reveal an increase in routine and manual workers in urban areas due to lower industrial robot adoption and an increase in demand for services that require a physical presence which are not easily automated, typically gig jobs. Furthermore, as the use of robots becomes more prevalent in non-urban regions, the demand for skilled workers increases, leading to an outflow of cognitive workers from urban regions.

Ilaria Mariotti, Federica Rossi (p), Sergio Scicchitano

Pietro Corsi

In the following months after the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, we have witnessed to a rescheduling of working methods. Indeed, the need of maintaining “social distance” has decreased the commuting flows to many large cities and has increased the remote working arrangements. Remote workers, whose majority are knowledge workers, mainly worked at home or second home, generating in their municipalities a potential demand for third workplaces, such as coworking spaces. As many studies suggested, the home is often an unsuitable place to work, because it is too small, noisy, etc. Using TIM’s mobile phone data (TIM Big Data – Data Visual Insight) as a proxy for the mobility during the pandemic period (2020), the Participation, Labour and Unemployment Survey (PLUS, 2021), and Italiancoworking data (2021), the paper aims to analyze the Lombardy case study in Northern Italy, and in particular to investigate the rise of new coworking spaces, driven by the potential demand of remote workers. A focus is made on peripheral and rural municipalities (based on Inner Areas – SNAI classification): have these territories been able to attract remote workers through the creation of new coworking spaces? Indeed, some peripheral and rural areas have promoted policy measures aimed at attracting remote workers, contributing to the development of the local ecosystem.

Alexandra Burlaud, Mathilde Aubry , Fabien Nadou (p)

Federica Rossi

Digital platforms act as new intermediaries to create a better life for consumers and companies. They affect many societal fields. As such, they are of increasing interest to policymakers. They must respond to the growing demands of stakeholders to have more say in how platforms operate and shape society.
In this paper, we are interested in the entanglements between digital platforms and policymakers. The aim is to uncover digital platforms challenges from policymakers point of view. We address two research questions: First, how policymakers perceive digital transaction platforms and, second, how do they respond?
Given the paucity of theory and empirical evidence on how local authorities perceive the development of digital platforms and their responses, this research follows an exploratory design. A qualitative analysis was conducted, as understanding the perception of policymakers and their regional context is essential in this work. We mobilized a GIOIA methodology based on an abductive reasoning.
This work focuses on transaction platforms generating physical meetings in a geographical area. Several examples of platforms emerged from the interviews of operational actors and elected representatives like, Airbnb, Uber, Deliveroo and Amazon. The interviewees built their discourse mainly on these examples because, not only are these the most well-known platforms, but they are also the ones whose consequences of their use are the most visible.
This work makes two contributions to the literature on digital platforms and a managerial contribution to policymakers.
First, this study details the consequences of platform consumption as perceived by stakeholders who are not directly affiliated with platforms: policymakers. This work provides a holistic view of the effects of digital platform use.
Second, the results question the interpenetration of public and private spheres. Indeed, digital platforms interfere in public policies while policymakers seem unable to adapt and organize themselves in response to their development. Thus, a confusion appears and is discussed around the roles and responsibilities of public and private actors.
Finally, this work provides recommendations for policy makers because it highlights the limits of public policies related to governance issues. Understanding the perception of platforms allows policymakers to identify the limits of platform activities and to put in place adequate regulation to protect the public commons. Finally, we highlight the importance of thinking about public policies for innovation that can enable the emergence of solutions in the face of increasingly powerful and independent platforms.

Guang Yang (p), Jianmin Liu, Xiaodong Ji

Fabien Nadou

Digitalisation has become a necessary vehicle to drive trade and economic growth in free trade zones (FTZs) in China. Since 2013, when the first free trade zone was settled in Shanghai, China has set up 21 free trade zones in six batches to carry out opening-up and institutional innovation in a wider scope and at deeper levels. They have been leading the opening up and accelerating economic development in Chinese regions, particularly in the central and western parts. Digitalization supports the implementation of various institutional innovations in these FTZs, significantly improves efficiency and reduces costs in the economic activities in FTZs.

Digitalisation encompasses mainly three areas, including industrial digitalisation, digital industrialisation and smart regulations. Industrial digitalisation refers to the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing industry and financial industry through digitalization, such as industrial internet, digital factory, and smart finance etc. Digital industrialisation refers to providing digital technology, products, services, infrastructure and solutions for industrial digital development, as well as all kinds of economic activities completely dependent on digital technology and data elements, such as digital trade. Smart regulation includes customs clearance and trade regulation, which are embodied in digital ports and single-window digital platforms for international trade.

The paper will conduct an in-depth study of the selected FTZs in these three areas to understand how digitalization has been driving the growth of economic activities in the FTZs and wider regions. The selected FTZs will include Hainan, Shanghai, Zhejiang in the East coast area, Henan and Anhui in the central region as well as Sichuan and Shaanxi in the west region. The research will outline the progress these FTZs have made when embracing the global digital trend and analyse its constraints and opportunities going forward. It will also identify best practices in these FTZs. Policy recommendations on how to counteract challenges and constraints and improve existing practices will be made based on the analysis.