The geography of the Robotisation-Health nexus. Evidence from Italian provinces

This paper assesses the impact of local exposure to robots on the physical health of workers and the broader population’s mental health across Italian provinces. The empirical analysis relies on data from the International Federation of Robotics to build a measure of robot penetration at the provincial level, combined with provincial-level data on workplace accidents and mental health issues provided by Italian agencies for work insurance and statistics, respectively. Our results, derived from a set of linear and non-linear models and instrumental variable approaches, highlight that robotisation has reduced the number of accidents in the workplace. At the same time, robotisation is associated with an increase in mental disorders in the local population. The effects are strongly heterogeneous across places, with large metropolitan areas experiencing a relatively greater reduction in accidents and lower prevalence of mental health issues compared to other provinces, potentially exacerbating long-standing regional well-being disparities.