Challenges in the digital age

Welcome address

Philip Lane, Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank

Keynote speech Work of the past, work of the future

David Autor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Chair: Frank Smets, European Central Bank

Coffee break

Session 1 Work, wages and technology: Past, present and future

Technological change can have profound effects on labour markets. This session will consider the effects of technology from a historical perspective, the impact of more recent IT investments and automation, and potential issues for policy should artificial intelligence permanently exclude some people from the labour force.

Chair: Rachel Ngai, London School of Economics

Automatic reaction – What happens to workers at firms that automate

• *Anna Salomons, Universiteit Utrecht
• James Bessen, Boston University
• Maarten Goos, Universiteit Utrecht
• Wiljan van den Berge, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis

Productivity-enhancing technology and labour market outcomes

• *James Bessen, Boston University
• Cesare Righi, Boston University

Economic policy towards digitisation: Can it enhance the goodies and abate the baddies?

Manuel Trajtenberg, Tel Aviv University

Session discussion

Keynote speech Productivity growth, market power and monetary policy

Chad Syverson, Chicago Booth

Chair: Luc Laeven, European Central Bank

Coffee break

Session 2 Market power in the digital age

Digital technologies have the potential to allow scale without mass and to allow innovative start-ups to grow and gain large market shares. This session will consider online pricing and the drivers of markups and concentration in the digital era, and will examine the implications of these forces for macroeconomic policy.

Chair: Christos Genakos, Cambridge Judge Business School

More Amazon effects: Online competition and pricing behaviours

Alberto Cavallo, Harvard University

Digitisation and the macroeconomics of superstars

• *Anton Korinek, University of Virginia
• Ding Xuan Ng, Johns Hopkins

Out of thin air? Drivers of industry concentration

• *Chiara Criscuolo, OECD
• Matej Bajgar, OECD
• Jonathan Timmis, OECD

Session discussion

Dinner – invitation only

Dinner speech

Automation: Recent determinants and long-run consequences

Robin Hanson, George Mason University

Session 3 Growth and productivity: Can digital technologies deliver?

Digital technologies have the potential to generate incredible productivity gains, and yet the past fifteen years have seen a protracted decline in productivity growth. This session will examine the productivity impact of technologies such as big data and online platforms, and will consider when we will see the promised productivity gains.

Chair: Gino Gancia, Queen Mary and CREI

The impact of big data on firm performance: An empirical investigation

Pat Bajari, Amazon

World productivity: 1996-2014

• *John Fernald, INSEAD
• Mehrdad Esfahani, Arizona State University
• Bart Hobijn, Arizona State University

Coffee break

Medium-term drivers of productivity growth

Diego Comin, Dartmouth College

Digital technologies and online platforms: The holy grail of productivity?

Peter Gal, OECD

Session discussion

Panel discussion

Chair: Reinhilde Veugelers, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Panellists:

• Pat Bajari, Amazon
  
• Romain Duval, International Monetary Fund
  
• Janice Eberly, Northwestern University
  
• Jonathan Haskel, Monetary Policy Committee, Bank of England