Technology, Leisure and Growth

Abstract

This thesis develops models and methods to investigate leisure, technology and growth. Models in chapters two, three and four study the macroeconomic impacts of technology on the consumer side. The models allow for consumer habit formation for a technology good purchased for leisure. However, for the consumption good, habits are irrelevant. A method is introduced to determine the steady state of the technology good sector and consumption good sector in- dependently. These chapters show that the models can contribute to the theoretical and empirical understanding of changes in consumption growth, interest rates, labour income share and wages. Models are constructed in chapters five and six to analyse technology on the production side in the form of job replacement by robots. Chapter five shows that the impact on welfare is ambiguous because leisure in the utility function can mitigate against wage decreases. In chapter six, policy to mitigate job losses from technology/robots is discussed. Show more