From semiconductors to artificial intelligence, concerns about economic espionage have become a central feature of geopolitical competition. But one fundamental question has remained surprisingly difficult to answer: does stealing technological knowledge actually improve economic performance?
When a restaurant adopts a delivery platform, it gains access to new markets and a workforce outside its own payroll. This changes the boundary of the firm: tasks that once had to be done inside the restaurant, or were too costly to provide at all, can now be supplied through a platform. This study asks who wins and who loses when this happens.
Picture a marketing professional drafting ad copy with a chatbot, an IT support specialist troubleshooting user issues, or a teacher spotting AI-generated student homework. Two years after ChatGPT’s launch, generative AI has rapidly become part of white-collar work. Yet for adopters, the data show no differential changes in earnings or hours.
Industrial robots and other automation technologies have transformed labour markets in recent decades. Not much is known about the long-run consequences of these technological changes, especially whether their effects extend beyond the workers directly exposed to automation and spill over to the next generation.
