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SUMMARY: St Catharine’s Political Economy Seminar - ‘Technological Une
 mployment: Myth or Reality’ by Robert Skidelsky  - Robert Skidelsky 
DTSTART:20180307T180000Z
DTEND:20180307T193000Z
UID:TALK98167@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Philippa Millerchip
DESCRIPTION:*Date:* Wednesday\, 7 March 2018\n*Time:* 18:00 -19:30\n*Speak
 er:* Robert Skidelsky  \n*Talk Title:* ‘Technological Unemployment: Myth
  or Reality’\n*Location:* Ramsden Room\, St Catharine's College \n\nThe 
 next St Catharine's Political Economy Seminar in the series on the Economi
 cs of Austerity\, will be held on 07 March\, 2018 - Robert Skidelsky will 
 give a talk on "Technological Unemployment: Myth or Reality". The seminar 
 will be held in the Ramsden Room at St Catharine's College from 6.00-7.30 
 pm. All are welcome. The seminar series is supported by the Cambridge Jour
 nal of Economics and the Economics and Policy Group at the Cambridge Judge
  Business School.\n\n\nSpeaker:\nRobert Skidelsky is Emeritus Professor of
  Political Economy at Warwick University. His three-volume biography of Jo
 hn Maynard Keynes (1983\,1992\, 2000) won five prizes and his book on the 
 financial crisis –Keynes: The Return of the Master – was published in 
 September 2010. He was made a member of the House of Lords in 1991 (he sit
 s on the cross-benches) and elected a fellow of the British Academy in 199
 4. How Much is Enough? The Love of Money and the Case for the Good Life\, 
 co-written with his son Edward\, was published in July 2012. He is also th
 e author of Britain in the 20th Century: A Success? (Vintage\, 2014) and e
 ditor of The Essential Keynes (Penguin Classics\, 2015). His most recent p
 ublications are as co-editor of Who Runs the Economy? (Palgrave\, 2016) an
 d Austerity Vs Stimulus (Palgrave\, 2017).\n\n\nTalk Overview:\nThis contr
 ibution's starting point is  Keynes's little essay of 1930\, Economic Poss
 ibilities for our Grandchildren: 'technological unemployment...means unemp
 loyment due to our discovery of means of economising the use of labour out
 running the pace at which we can find new uses for labour'. Two questions 
 arise: will the future be different from the past\, when we were always ab
 le to absorb labour displaced by machines? There is no agreed view. There 
 are many estimates of the jobs 'at risk' from automation by 2030\, ranging
  from 30% to 50%. There is no agreement on whether\, or how soon\, the job
 s displaced will be replaced\, i.e. whether there will be a net job loss. 
 The majority view is that there will be transitional job losses\, but no p
 ermanent ones. Most of the discussion treats automation as not just desira
 ble\, but irreversible: part of the scientific momentum\, which defines mo
 dern civilisation. This needs challenging\, since it appears to leave the 
 human future to machines. Second\, it is generally agreed that\, as in the
  past\, automation will enable a reduction in hours worked. However\, the 
 argument that this will be consistent with maintaining or increasing media
 n income needs to be challenged. Evidence is that median incomes have been
  stagnant and even falling\, as most productivity gains go to the rich. Ex
 tra leisure will surely be unwanted if it means lower real incomes. The re
 sponse to automation cannot be left to the market. It requires a social de
 cision concerning the speed and type of automation\, and a social response
  to the problems it creates.\n\nPlease contact the seminar organisers \nPh
 ilip Arestis (pa267@cam.ac.uk) and Michael Kitson (mk24@cam.ac.uk) in the 
 event of a query\n
LOCATION:The Ramsden Room\, St Catharine's College
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