Page - (000094) - in Disrupted Development and the Future of Inequality in the Age of Automation

88 L. SCHLOGL AND A. SUMNER socioeconomic effects expressed themselves (or not) politically? What are the public policy options for governments? In sum, there are numerous questions arising for the future of economic development that automa- tion throws up. Understanding the more precise impacts of automation on the economic development of developing countries can only be well understood if such questions are urgently pursued. In conclusion, we would make three points. First, automation is chal- lenging the competitive advantage of low-cost labor of late developers. Second, many developing countries have a vulnerable labor force in terms of wage stagnation and premature deindustrialization could loom. However, unemployment is not (yet) the problem. Third, we need to ask different policy and research questions and be concerned about the jobs impact of technology and the political economy of automation rather than just automatability in principle. In that vein the Lewis model and surplus labor theory could once more help us understand the dynamics of economic development and structural transformation. Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.