Documents technology 368 results

"Where does the desire for endless rules and regulations come from? How did we come to spend so much time filling out forms? And just how much are our lives being ruined by all this nonstop documentation? To answer these questions, the LSE anthropologist David Graeber, author of the international bestseller DEBT and one of our most important and provocative thinkers, traces the unexpected ways we relate to bureaucracy and reveals how it shapes our lives in ways we may not even notice. Is the inane, annoying paperwork we confront daily really a cipher for state violence? Is the capitalist promise of salvation through technology just a tool for the powerful to exert more control? Graeber provides a forceful, radical answer to these questions, while also suggesting there may be something perversely appealing, even romantic, about bureaucracy. Leaping from economic theory to the hidden meanings behind James Bond, Sherlock Holmes and Batman, The Utopia of Rules is at once a powerful work of social theory and an entertaining reckoning with popular culture. An essential book for our times that is destined to start a million conversations about the institutions that rule our lives, and the better, freer world we should imagine for ourselves."

"This article questions the disruptive nature of the current process of digitalisation from a retrospective point of view. Four aspects of this process are considered: digitised information as a strategic economic resource; the nature and pace of industrial revolutions; the contested nature of the link between technology and employment; and the shift from flexible work practices towards virtual work. The article reviews some salient research findings from the past three decades and confronts them with recent publications concerning the future of work in the digital economy. It argues that the current wave of digitalisation combines, on the one hand, continuing trends in the analysis of the information society or knowledge-based society, and, on the other hand, significant breakthroughs the scope and impacts of which must be carefully assessed, avoiding any return to technological determinism. "

"This battery study analyses the ramping-up of lithium-ion battery cell production in Europe. It outlines lithium-ion battery technology, the value chain, location factors, the innovation system and the employment effects. The report aims to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Europe as a location and its global role in battery cell production. A location matrix identifies attractive European locations for battery cell production plants and compares Europe's competitiveness with the main players USA, China, South Korea and Japan. European demand scenarios are calculated and Europe is expected to meet its demand until 2030, and even build up export capacities, provided that all the projects that have been announced can be successfully implemented. Then it will also be able to increase its share in global production at the expense of China. An analysis of the technical innovation system identifies the interplay between the actors and the framework conditions which will stimulate battery cell production in Europe. Analysis of the employment effects paints a diverse picture of job losses and job creation alongside a high demand for retraining."

"This article discusses the risks that artificial intelligence (AI) poses for work. It classifies risks into two types, direct and indirect. Direct risks are AI-induced forms of discrimination, surveillance and information asymmetries at work. Indirect risks are enhanced workplace automation and the increasing ‘fissurisation' of work. Direct and indirect risks are illustrated using the example of the transport and logistics sector. We discuss policy responses to both types of risk in the context of the German economy and argue that the policy solutions need to differ according to the type of risk. Direct risks can be addressed by European and national regulation against discrimination, surveillance and information asymmetries. As for indirect risks, the first step is to monitor the risks so as to gain an understanding of sector-specific transformations and establish relevant expertise and competence. This way of addressing AI-induced risks at work will help to improve the prospects of decent work, fair remuneration and adequate social protection for all."

"This edited volume explores the need for a transformative approach to envisioning a just social and economic model. A cross-disciplinary team of academic experts was formed to develop this approach, with the aim of proposing concrete policy ideas that are both transformative and original. While these ideas should not be contingent on a revolutionary reconfiguration of the current relationship between capital and labour, they may lead to a radical rebalancing of power structures within societies. Crises are becoming an almost permanent feature of our societies, occurring ever more closely together and increasing uncertainty. The recent crises had and are having profound effects on key institutional arrangements underpinning our societies, such as labour markets and welfare states. This has forced societies to reassess the role of the state in regulating markets, as well as the level of control to which private individuals can be subjected, either by the state or by corporate actors. The post-pandemic period offers a unique opportunity to transform the global economic system, making it more resilient to future shocks, while ensuring environmental sustainability, intergenerational fairness and a dignified existence. It is a time to cast a new social-ecological contract for the future, ensuring a just share of progress for all."

"This paper analyses the impact of changes in environmental regulations on productivity growth at country- and firm-level. We exploit several data sources and the environmen-tal policy stringency index, to evaluate the Porter hypothesis, according to which firms' productivity can benefit from more stringent environmental policies. By using panel local projections, we estimate the regulatory impact over a five-year horizon. The identification of causal impacts of regulatory changes is achieved by the estimation of firms' CO2 emissions via a machine learning algorithm. At country- and firm-level, policy tightening affects high-polluters' productivity negatively and stronger than their less-polluting peers. However, among high-polluting firms, large ones experience positive total factor productivity growth due to easier access to finance and greater innovativeness. Hence, we do not find support for the Porter hypothesis in general. However for technology support policies and firms with the required resources, policy tightening can enhance productivity."

"Contact centers have long been lead innovators in adopting new technologies to restructure jobs and manage workers. Between the 1990s and 2000s, the first wave of digitalization transformed what were then called ‘call centers' through innovations in call volume tracking, automatic call distribution, and electronic monitoring and performance management. 2 The growth of the internet and fiber-optic digital networks enabled the relocation of jobs far from customers through outsourcing and offshoring. Since the mid-2010s – and accelerating in the early 2020s – a new set of technologies have been transforming contact center jobs. This second digital transformation is based on advances in artificial intelligence (AI), enabled by faster network speeds and cloud computing. A range of new AI-based tools are being used to automate customer service and sales via chatbots and voicebots, to perform a growing range of back-office tasks, and to enable more intensive and tailored forms of remote monitoring, coaching, training, and scheduling."