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Technology and Labour: Building Resilience and Collective Responsibility Conference

Join leading economists to explore the declining demand for traditional labour and how advances in digital technology have impacted it.

  • 26 May 2026, 9.30am to 28 May 2026, 2.00pm BST (GMT +01:00)
  • 3 East, University of Bath
  • This event is free

Co-hosted by Bath's Department of Economics and the Department of Economics at Cornell University, this conference will explore the implications of advances in digital technology and consequent declining demand for traditional labour. This trend is being experienced across all societies, 'rich' and 'poor', leading to different kinds of anxiety and vulnerabilities being experienced by people.

As a result, important questions concerning resilience and our collective responsibility in handling these are coming to the fore. This is a time with a need for both:

  • research and analysis — to visualize the kinds of changes in the economy, with fallout on politics and society, that we are likely to witness in the years ahead
  • new laws, regulations and policies that we can conceptualise and propose for pre-emptive implementation to navigate these changes.

This conference will bring together leading theorists, applied economists, development and labour economists to discuss these topics.

Keynote speaker

‘Professor Joseph E Stiglitz (Columbia University) will deliver the conference’s keynote address (via a live video link), ‘Steering Technological Progress’. Professor Stiglitz won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2001.’

Professor Joseph E Stiglitz

Professor Joseph E Stiglitz (Columbia University)

Day 1: 26 May

Location: 3 East, Room 2.2

Start End Session Host/speaker
9.30am 10am Registration and light refreshments -
10am 10.30am Welcome and Introduction Emma Carmel (University of Bath), Christine Potter (Cornell University), and Kaushik Basu (Cornell University)
10.30am 1pm Session 1: Resilience and Vulnerability Dilip Mookherjee (Boston University), The Insurance Role of Welfare Programs; Finn Tarps (University of Copenhagen), Analysing and Understanding Poverty and Inequality in Mozambique; Indranil Dutta (University of Manchester), Identifying the Vulnerable
1pm 2pm Lunch (served at the Claverton Rooms) -
2pm 3.40pm Session 2: Mobility, Inequality and Abundance Garance Genicot (Georgetown), The Great Gatsby Curve: Upward Mobility, Persistence and Inequality; Rohit Lamba (Cornell University), The Leisure Trap: A Theory of Abundance and the Civic Commons
3.40pm 4pm Refreshment break -
4pm 5.40pm Session 3: History, Shocks and Long-term Impact Pushkar Maitra (Monash University), Effects of early-life Shocks on Children’s Physical and Cognitive Development; Sudipta Sarangi (Virginia Tech), People from Historically Rice-Farming Cultures Perform Better on Exams

Timings and sessions may change, please check this page regularly for updates.

Day 2: 27 May

Location: 3 East, Room 2.4

Start End Session Host/speaker
9am 9.30am Registration and light refreshments -
9.30am 11.20am Session 4: Collective Responsibility Jorgen Weibull (University of Stockholm), The Dinosaur Risk – A Fable of Civilizational Collapse; Andrew Samuel (Loyola University)/Jaideep Roy (University of Bath), Group Responsibility and Self-control
11.20am 11.35am Refreshment break -
11.35am 1.15pm Session 5: Automation and Public Policy Maik Schneider (University of Graz), Public Policy Responses to AI; Bibhas Saha (Durham University), Automation, Job Loss and Ideological Politics
1.15pm 2.15pm Lunch (served at the Claverton Rooms) -
2.15pm 4pm Keynote talk (this will take place via a live video link in 3 East Room 2.1) Joseph Stiglitz (Columbia University), Steering Technological Progress
4pm 4.20pm Refreshment break -
4.20pm 6pm Session 7: Technology and Labour Market Tridip Ray (Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi), Do Clouds have a Silicon Lining for Firms? Contract Hiring and Computer Capital; Anand Chopra (University of Liverpool), Automation and Local Labour Market: Impact of Immigrant Mobility

Timings and sessions may change, please check this page regularly for updates.

Day 3: 28 May

Location: 3 East, Room 2.2

Start End Session Host/speaker
9.30am 10am Registration and light refreshments -
10am 12.30pm Session 8: Skills, Technology and Employment Guy Michaels (London School of Economics), Organising Expertise with Externalities; Jonathan James (University of Bath), Costly Misdemeanours: Labour Market Effects of Low-Level Drink-Driving Violations; Ronit Mukherjee (Ashoka University), Automation and Employment Recovery
12.30pm 12.45pm Closing remarks Kaushik Basu (Cornell University) and Ajit Mishra (University of Bath)
1pm 2pm Lunch (served at the Claverton Rooms) -

Timings and sessions may change, please check this page regularly for updates.

Attend this conference

Book your ticket This conference is free to attend, but you must book your place. It is possible to attend all three days or individual days,

Location

This conference will take place in 3 East on our University of Bath campus.


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3 East University of Bath Claverton Down Bath BA2 7AY United Kingdom

Contact us

If you have any questions about this conference, please contact us.