RF Berlin Talks: Deputy Director Alexandra Spitz-Oener on technology adoption and the changing nature of work
Alexandra Spitz-Oener, Deputy Director of RFBerlin, Professor of Economics at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and a research associate at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Nuremberg, talks about her research on how machines and workers interact in the workplace from a long term perspective. From introduction of computers in the late 1970s and the 1980s, robots in the 1990s, to artificial intelligence in more recent time, what implications technology adoption have on the nature of work: disappearing jobs and/or arrival of new jobs, changing quality of jobs and task contents over time? Alexandra’s research aims to answer questions of this type and address (lack of evidence-based) concerns over displacement of workers. Join us on this episode to learn more about the data employed, the upside and downside of technological changes, as well as challenges faced by firms in order to fully reap the benefits of machines and technologies.
Comment
“Food Prices Are Not the Sole Cause”
January 2026
Research report
Sources of Variation in Mental Healthcare Utilization
January 2026
Research report
Night Shift Work and Mental Health
January 2026
Analysis
The reduction in parental fees for early childhood education and care primarily benefits middle- to high-income families
January 2026