Economics: I have been asking “where is the evidence that capital investment and labor are now not complements but substitutes?” Well, the evidence is now here:

Ann Harrison: Now is the time to put people before robots: ‘Policymakers must act to ameliorate the impact of automation on incomes…. There is nothing constant about labour’s share…. In the US, the decline in the share of the economic pie going to workers is dramatic…“the great slide”…. Between 1997 and 2019, profits nearly doubled for US-listed companies, from 8 per cent to 15 per cent of revenues. But wages and benefits did not climb as quickly: their share of revenues fell from 27 per cent to 12 per cent, and of value added from 52 per cent to 23 per cent…. In the US, after-tax income inequality is now at its highest level in 40 years…. Possible explanation[s]… globalisation… growing market power of big companies… technological changes that make it easy to replace people with machines…. I explored all three possibilities using millions of data points in Orbis…. The biggest driver is, indeed, the replacement of people with machines, rendering them—from an economic standpoint—obsolete…. A one percentage point increase in research and development expenditure is associated with a two percentage point decline in a company’s labour share… “Disentangling Various Explanations for the Declining Labor Share: <nber.org/papers/w32015>…. Policymakers should ensure that tax and subsidy incentives encourage companies to create more, and better, jobs…. Promoting higher educational opportunities at reasonable cost…. Providing stronger social safety nets would prevent US leaders from turning to protectionist measures…. Forward-thinking business schools emphasise the many stakeholders inherent in every business decision, far beyond shareholders and their profits… <ft.com/content/d5c9e07b…>