Macroeconomic Effects of Digitisation

The macroeconomic impact of digitisation on employment depends on the impact on productivity and investment (and thus on economic growth): if digitisation increases productivity more than growth, employment falls, and vice versa. In addition, digitisation influences the distribution of income between capital and labour on the one hand and within wage incomes on the other. The distribution of income in turn has an impact on growth and productivity. Macroeconomic employment effects can thus only be determined by means of a macroeconomic analysis that takes these impact channels into account. However, empirical evidence on the effects of the increasing use of digital technologies on growth, productivity, employment and distribution is not yet clear.