J. Frank Li

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

J. Frank Li is an economist specializing in labor economics, automation, and the geography of technological adoption in manufacturing. His most notable work examines how industrial robots are distributed across U.S. manufacturing establishments, leveraging data from the Annual Survey of Manufactures to uncover patterns in robotics investment that had previously gone understudied. In his highly regarded 2023 paper on "robot hubs," Li demonstrates that robotics adoption and robot intensity are far more strongly associated with establishment size than previously appreciated, revealing important heterogeneity in how automation spreads across firms and regions. This research sheds light on the uneven geographic footprint of automation, with implications for understanding regional labor market disparities and the future of American manufacturing employment. Though early in citation accumulation with 6 citations, the work addresses one of the most pressing economic questions of the modern era — how robots are reshaping workplaces and communities. Li's empirical approach, combining establishment-level microdata with geographic analysis, positions him as an emerging voice in the growing literature on technology, firms, and economic inequality, making his research essential reading for scholars of automation and industrial policy.