Robotics, programmable automation, and international competitiveness

More than 25 years of empirical research on the productivity, cost, and other effects of major technological innovations in a wide array of industries in the U.S. and abroad has led to two conclusions: first, that the actual economic effects of even major technological advances have almost invariably fallen far short of their expected effects; and second, that such exaggerated expectations have been due to their over-concentration on only a limited sector of the complex of interactions which determine actual results. Hence, sound analysis of the prospective effects of increasing applications of robotics in domestic industries on their cost effectiveness and international competitiveness requires avoidance of such over simplifications.