Recently, a collaborative paper titled "Robots as Guardians: Industrial Automation and Workplace Safety in China," co-authored by Associate Professor Zou Xianqiang from the Labor Economics Department at the School of Labor and Human Resources, Renmin University of China, alongside Luo Wei, Tang Lixin, and Yang Yaxin, was published online in the prestigious Journal of Development Economics. The study investigates how industrial robots can enhance workplace safety in China by taking over dangerous tasks traditionally performed by workers.

According to the paper's findings, increased exposure to industrial robots is associated with notable improvements in workplace safety. Specifically, a one-standard-deviation increase in robot exposure leads to reductions in annual workplace accidents and fatalities by 0.100 and 0.0133 cases per thousand population, respectively, compared to sample averages of 0.122 accidents and 0.0351 fatalities. These results are robust across multiple instrumental variable strategies and various robustness checks. Additional analyses using household survey data and Baidu search trends further support these findings. Importantly, the paper shows through an accounting framework that these improvements in workplace safety are not solely a byproduct of reduced employment due to automation. Rather, the primary safety enhancements occur within occupations, driven by robots performing hazardous tasks.

The full paper is available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103381. 

About Associate Professor Zou Xianqiang
Dr. Zou Xianqiang is an Associate Professor in the Labor Economics Department at the School of Labor and Human Resources, Renmin University of China, and a Master's supervisor. He also holds research positions at the National Academy of Development and Strategy, the Institute for Common Prosperity, and the National Research Institute for Small and Medium Enterprises, and is a member of the Global Labor Organization (GLO). Dr. Zou received his Ph.D. in Economics from the Department of Economics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School. His primary research areas include labor economics, development economics, and Chinese economy. Dr. Zou has led a youth project funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and several other provincial-level projects. His research has been published in Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Journal of Population Economics, Chinese Rural Economy, among other journals. Some of his work has also been reprinted in China Economist and RUC Reprints.