How Robot Laborers Could Restock Italy and Japan’s Dwindling Workforce
The Sci-Fi Scenario May Sound Ominous, but Droids Could Help Countries with Low Birth Rates
Ask experts about the future of Italy and Japan, and you won’t hear many hopeful opinions. One is destined to fall out of the Euro. The other is condemned to secular stagnation and more economic “lost decades.”
But the worst, we are told, is yet to come, because both countries have extremely low birth rates. Harvard sociologist Mary Brinton calls this “a demographic time bomb.” Italian Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin says simply, “We are a dying country.”
Could all the experts be wrong?
Yes, and the reason is robots.
Conventional wisdom has long held …
