Western University · Fall 2026

ECON 3399: AI and Robots at Work

How substitution, skills, tasks, and automation shape labor demand and the distribution of income.

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2 course parts 7 sections Full-text search Numbered equations and results

Course Map

Part 1

Aggregate Production Functions

Substitution between capital and labor, Cobb--Douglas and CES production, factor shares, technological change, output scale, and heterogeneous labor.

4 sections Part 2

Task-Based Theories of Production

Occupations as task bundles, comparative advantage, endogenous task assignment, applications to skills and capital, automation, new tasks, and equilibrium wages.

3 sections

Quick routes

SUBLabor and capital as aggregate inputs CESCES production and technological change CES+CES examples and applications TASKTask-based production APPTask-model examples and applications AUTOAutomation and new tasks