Sample Project: Structure and Dynamics of Skills and Jobs

As advances in robotics and artificial intelligence revive concerns about the impact of automation on jobs, a question looms: How will automation affect employment in different cities and economies? We use tools from complex systems and urban science to explore this question.

 

 

Scientific writings

E. Moro, M. R. Frank, A. Pentland, A. Rutherford, M. Cebrian, I. Rahwan (2021). Universal resilience patterns in labor markets. Nature Communications. 12, 1972
[Medai: MIT News]

H. C. Chen, X. Li, M. Frank, X. Qin, W. Xu, M. Cebrian, I. Rahwan (2021). Automation impacts on China’s polarized job market. Journal of Computational Social Science

W. Xu, X. Qin, X. Li, H. Chen, M. Frank, A. Rutherford, A. Reeson, I. Rahwan (2021). Developing China’s workforce skill taxonomy reveals extent of labor market polarization. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. 8:187

H. Chen , Y. Kryvasheyeu, W. Xu , Y. Huang, J. Deng, S. Ren , X. Li, I. Rahwan, M. Cebrian (2021). Evolution of urban forms observed from space. EPJ Data Science. 10:27

I. Hong, M. R. Frank, I. Rahwan, W.-S. Jung, H. Youn (2020). The universal pathway to innovative urban economies. Science Advances. 6(34):eaba4934
[Media: Northwestern University, Quartz, Forbes]

M. R. Frank, D. Autor, J. E. Bessen, E. Brynjolfsson, M. Cebrian, D. J.  Deming, M. Feldman, M. Groh, J. Lobo, E. Moro, D. Wang, H. Youn, I.  Rahwan (2019). Toward Understanding the Impact of AI on Labor. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116(14):6531–6539
[Selected media: Forbes]

A. Alabdulkareem, M. R. Frank, L. Sun, B. AlShebli, C. Hidalgo, I. Rahwan (2018). Unpacking the polarization of workplace skills. Science Advances, 4(7):eaao6030
[Selected Media: Summary on Medium, AAAS, WBUR, Axios, Nature Middle East]

Frank, M. R., Sun, L., Cebrian, M., Youn, H., & Rahwan, I. (2018). Small cities face greater impact from automation. Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 15(139).
[Selected Media: Wired, MIT Technology Review, New Scientist]