Recent advances in artificial intelligence and robotics have generated a robust debate about the future of work. An analogous debate occurred in the late nineteenth century when mechanization first transformed manufacturing. We analyze an extraordinary dataset from the late nineteenth century, the Hand and Machine Labor study carried out by the US Department of Labor in the mid-1890s. We focus on transitions at the task level from hand to machine production, and on the impact of inanimate power, especially of steam power, on labor productivity. Our analysis sheds light on the ability of modern task-based models to account for the effects of historical mechanization.

中文翻译：

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19世纪后期的制造业“自动化”：手和机器劳动研究

人工智能和机器人技术的最新进展引发了关于工作未来的激烈辩论。类似的争论发生在19世纪后期，当时机械化首次改变了制造业。我们分析了19世纪末期非凡的数据集，即美国劳工部在1890年代中期进行的“手和机器劳动”研究。我们专注于从手工生产到机器生产的任务级别过渡，以及无生命力（尤其是蒸汽力）对劳动生产率的影响。我们的分析揭示了基于任务的现代模型解决历史机械化影响的能力。