Automation versus openness: Support for policies to address job threats

Abstract

Does the threat of automation of workers' employment provoke distinct policy preferences from that of globalization? There remain few studies that directly compare the impact of these structural threats on public policy preferences. We present hypotheses about how these different threats affect support for policies to prevent such shocks as well as policies to compensate via redistribution. Using vignette and conjoint experiments embedded in survey evidence from Spain, we find that the threat of automation does not provoke any greater demand for redistribution than does openness. Nor does job loss due to automation provoke beliefs of greater deservingness of transfers, compared to job loss from openness. We find that while the threat of offshoring and hiring foreign workers does cause greater support for policies to prevent this process from happening, scenarios of robot substitution do not provoke a similar reaction. These results suggest policies to prioritize automation over openness may gain less political traction