Seth Benzell

Boston University, Digital Science (United States)

Papers

Total Citations

229

H-Index

About

Seth Benzell is an economist whose research sits at the cutting edge of automation, artificial intelligence, and the future of work. Best known for his provocative and influential work on technological unemployment, Benzell has made significant contributions to our understanding of how smart machines and robots may reshape labor markets and broader economic systems. His landmark paper "Robots Are Us: Some Economics of Human Replacement" (2015), which has garnered over 120 citations, challenges conventional economic optimism by drawing a striking parallel between the displacement of horses by the internal combustion engine and the potential obsolescence of human workers by intelligent machines. Alongside this, his co-authored piece "Robots: Curse or Blessing? A Basic Framework" (97 citations) offers a rigorous yet accessible theoretical lens for weighing the productivity gains of automation against its disruptive effects on wages, employment, and worker welfare. A central and unsettling finding threading through his work is that greater technological supply can, paradoxically, erode aggregate demand over time — a counterintuitive result with profound policy implications. Benzell's scholarship provides essential reading for anyone grappling with the economic consequences of the ongoing automation revolution.