As we move deeper into the 21st century, rapid advancements in automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence continue to reshape industries, raising concerns about the potential impact on workers. Will these innovations lead to widespread job losses? Or, as history suggests, will the labour market adapt?   

In this insightful lecture, Erik Hurst will explore how recent developments in automation are influencing the labour market. Drawing parallels from the early 20th-century agricultural revolution, where the adoption of tractors and automated farming equipment drastically reduced agricultural employment but did not destabilize overall employment rates, Professor Hurst will examine how current automation trends may produce different effects.    

Accompanying Professor Hurst, our distinguished panellists will offer diverse perspectives. They will explore the economic, technological, sociological, and political dimensions of automation, discussing strategies for policymakers and business leaders to address and mitigate potentially negative consequences while highlighting future opportunities. 

Meet our speakers and chair

Erik Hurst is Frank P. and Marianne R. Diassi Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Director of the Becker Friedman Institute and John E. Jeuck Faculty Fellow. Erik is an economist whose work lies at the intersection of macroeconomics, labor economics and urban economics.  His research has addressed topics such as declining male participation rates, the determinants of U.S. wage growth, the welfare losses to society stemming from gender and racial discrimination, the causes and consequences of urban gentrification, the economics of time use, small business dynamics, life-cycle consumption profiles, the role of housing and mortgage markets in driving macroeconomic conditions, and the choice to invest in human capital. His research has been extensively covered in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist.

Chrisanthi Avgerou is Professor of Information Systems at LSE. In her research, she studies Information Technology innovation and organizational change and the role of IT in socio-economic development.  In 1999 she was named Fellow of the Association for Information Systems and in 2023 she received the AIS Leo award for exceptional lifetime achievement in information systems.

Noam Yuchtman is the Drummond Professor of Political Economy at the University of Oxford and a Fellow at All Souls College. He also serves as a Managing Editor at the Review of Economic Studies. His research focuses on political economy, economic history, and labor economics, exploring topics such as the impact of educational institutions on human capital, the political economy of legal institutions, social interactions influencing economic and political behavior, drivers of political ideology, and the role of the state in economic growth and innovation.

Sarah Ashwin is Head of Department at LSE’s Department of Management and Professor of Comparative Employment Relations. Her research interests lie in developing different aspects of gender theory, beginning with her work focused on post-Soviet Russian employment relations and gender order. The latest stream of her research focuses on the governance of global supply chains in the garment industry. Professor Ashwin was honoured to join the editorial board of Gender & Society in 2019.

More about this event

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The Department of Management (@LSEManagement) is a world class centre for education and research in business and management, at the heart of LSE’s academic community in central London. The Department delivers research and education which advance the frontiers of understanding in management through an integrated view of the economic, psychological, social, political and technological contexts in which people, teams, organisations and markets operate worldwide.

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Podcast & video 

A podcast of this event is available to download from Automation, management, and the future of work.

A video of this event is available to watch at Automation, management, and the future of work.

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