Call for papers
15th European Network on the Economics of the Firm (ENEF) meeting
«Firm Automation in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: The Future of Organisation, Employment, and Productivity»
Science Policy Research Unit. School of Business Management and Economics, University of Sussex
13th and 14th September 2018.
The theme of this year’s meeting reflects core themes of ENEF and SPRU’s long standing tradition in peering into the socio-economic challenges raised by looming technological revolutions. One of the most pressing challenge today for firms, their employees, and policy makers alike is the “fourth industrial revolution”. In this context, this edition of ENEF aims to bring together scholars to discuss the impact of robotisation, digital transformations and artificial intelligence on firm organisation, and what this implies for employment, productivity, market concentration, and industrial dynamics. The interplay between technological change, firm behaviour and industry dynamics has long been investigated in both theoretical and empirical literature. Recently, increasing interest in the economic literature on the effects of new forms of technological transformations, has called for more data and research to understand which firms develop new (4.0) technologies, which firms adopt them, and how these are changing the firm’s organisation and the work content.
Keeping the approach of previous ENEF workshops, we welcome submissions from all areas of economics focusing on the firm, innovation, and employment, as well as relevant contributions from management, organisation science and political economy.
The workshop will focus on empirical, theoretical and policy analysis of topics that are related to robotisation, digital transformations and artificial intelligence (or the fourth industrial revolution more in general) and:
- Firm organisation, division of labour and tasks
- Industry organisation, market concentration, superstar firms, and industrial dynamics
- Determinants and effects of automation and AI at the firm and industry level
- Employment and wage dynamics
- Organisational characteristics and employment restructuring
- The role of exporting and importing activities and tasks
- Reshoring of production and organisation of GVC more in general
- Firms collaboration and networks
- The effects of automation and robots on firm performance
Keynote speakers:
Tera Allas (TBC), McKinsey Center for Government
Guy Michaels, London School of Economics
Philippe Schneider, Nesta
Ed Steinmueller (TBC) closing round table
Important dates:
Extended abstracts (between 2-3 pages) or paper submission: 21.5.2017. Please submit to enef2018@sciencesconf.org. Submitted papers are expected to be work in progress and should not have yet been submitted for publication.
Selection committee: Michael Dietrich and local organisers.
Notification of acceptance by 30.06.2018.
Final papers to be delivered by 31.08.2018.
Workshop dates: 13-14.09.2018
