Ayako Obashi

Papers

Total Citations

102

H-Index

About

Ayako Obashi is a leading empirical economist whose research illuminates the intersection of technology, trade, and labor markets, with a particular focus on global production networks and digital transformation. Her work provides critical insights into how automation and technological advancement reshape employment dynamics and international trade patterns. In her highly cited 2021 study on Japan, Obashi demonstrated how robotics technology drives firm-level employment adjustment, revealing nuanced effects on workforce composition that have become essential for understanding Industry 4.0's labor implications. Her 2022 analysis of Thailand’s labor markets, with 35 citations, broke new ground by disentangling the complex effects of technological progress and import penetration on developing economies. Perhaps most notably, her 2021 gravity-model study of international production networks—cited 26 times—established that growing investment in industrial robots in lagging economies, combined with imported digitally deliverable services, fundamentally alters the structure of global trade. This finding has profound implications for policymakers navigating the digital transformation of manufacturing. Obashi’s work stands at the forefront of understanding how emerging technologies reshape economic geography and labor markets across both developed and developing nations.