Artificial Intelligence,Structural Change and Labor Income Share

Artificial intelligence(AI)is a strategic technology that leads a new round of technological revolution and structural transformation.This paper studies the effects of AI on structural change and factor income shares.As a general purpose technology and new infrastructure,AI may substitute either labor or capital and its application has differential prospects across sectors.With a multi-sector general dynamic equilibrium model,we find that AI services or AI-specific technologies will reallocate factors between sectors.The direction of the reallocation depends on sectoral differences in the output elasticity of AI and in the elasticity of substitution between AI and traditional modes of production.The process of structural change will in turn change the labor income share.This paper presents the theoretical conditions for the direction of these changes and the underlying economic mechanism.We derive policy implications about how to promote high-quality development with AI.

SPECIAL ISSUE： DISTRIBUTION OF NATIONAL INCOME IN A TRANSITIONAL ECONOMY Labor income shares （LIS） in economic development： an empirical study based on China＇s sectoral-level data

Empirical study of sectoral-level change in LIS in China reveals that change in industry structure is synchronous and positively correlated with LIS in different sectors of the economy, intensifying overall LIS fluctuations. Our analysis of LIS based on data from the major sectors of China＇s economy show that, relative to 1993, the increase in LIS in 1996 was largely due to the increased proportion of LIS in secondary industry. Relative to 1996, the fall in LIS in 2003 was closely related to the fall in the proportion of primary industry in the overall economy. The year 2004 was unusual in that it witnessed a dramatic fall in overall LIS level. The primary reason for the fall was a change in statistical definition that led to a significant reduction in LIS in the secondary and tertiary sectors. There were huge variations in LIS level among different regions. However, with the passage of time, the regional disparities are gradually being reduced. This is also closely connected to changes in industry structure and within-sector LIS fluctuations.

Why Does China＇s Labor Income Share Tend to Decline？- From the Perspective of Population Age Structure Change

Using a theoretical model, this article concludes that age structures influence people＇s propensity to save and thereby influence their capital intensity. In the context that capital and labor are in a substitutional relation, increased capital intensity may lead to a drop of labor income share. We perform empirical research with provincial-level data from 1990 to 2007 and have proved that the rising of the old dependency ratio and the decrease of the children dependency rate both contribute to the fall of labor income share. This assumption still holds true after the authors control the influences of other potential factors that may influence labor income share

Effects of Commodity Trade Structure Variations on Labor' s Share of Income in China——An Empirical Study Based on Data of Production Industry Sectors

Proceeding from trade structure variations,this paper provides a new perspective on the study of the share of labor income in China.China's commodity trade structure has experienced a step change in recent years.According to theoretical analysis,trade exerts not only a direct effect on the share of labor income through international division of labor and specialization but also an indirect effect through factor intensity variations and technology progress bias.Empirical study discovered that export has a significant negative effect on the share of China's labor income while import has a positive effect.Import and export have different levels and directions of effect on sectors with different factor intensity.

Measuring Labor＇s Share of Income in China： 1993-2008

Accurately measuring labor＇s share of income is of great importance for China ＇S national policies, particularly its labor compensation policies during the 12th Five Year Plan period. This paper first analyses the measurement problems of labor＇s share of income from the perspectives of definition and data and their influences on the accuracy of the measurement results. Then it sums up and appraises several adjustment methods for existing measurement problems. Finally, the author estimates the operating surplus of private, unincorporated enterprises （OSPUE） in China using data from Urban household survey （UHS）, Rural household survey （RHS） and population survey, and further makes a correction to labor＇s share of income in China from 1993 to 2008 with data from flow of funds accounts. Finally, the author conducted trend analysis and international comparisons using the results obtained from the first part of the paper.

Employment Structure,Lewis Turning Point and the Labor Share of Income:Theoretical and Empirical Analysis

In the context of the labor market segmentation in China and its reaching the Lewis turning point,this paper interprets the changing trend of the labor share of income in China from the changing perspective of the employment ownership structure.The theoretical analysis reveals that the labor share of income follows a U-shaped curve when the agricultural labor force gradually moves into the private and self-employed sectors.Using the Chinese provincial-level panel dataset between 1990 and 2016,our empirical study finds that there is a critical threshold.When the share of agricultural labor force is above this threshold value,the impact of the increase in the employment share of the urban private sector on the labor share of income is negative.In contrast,the impact becomes positive when the share of the agricultural labor force is less than or equal to this threshold value.Moreover,the impacts of other variables of employment ownership structure don’t show this kind of feature on both sides of this threshold value.The increase in the employment share of the urban private sector accounted for about 29.37%of the growing labor share of income between 2007 and 2016.This paper provides policy implications in the following four areas:institutional guarantee improvement,harmonious labor relations establishment,redistribution policy imposition and economic development pattern transformation.