The teamsters lesson: automation adjustment is least painful when newcomers just stop entering
soumitrashukla9 · x · 2026-10-23
Economist Anna Stansbury highlights Ben Casselman's piece on what history teaches about technological change. As motor trucks displaced horse-drawn wagons after WWI, teamster numbers rose from 1900-1910, declined gradually in the 1910s, then dropped steeply in the '20s-'30s. The slow transition let young men pursue other industries, creating a driver shortage that actually raised wages for older workers who stayed. Stansbury: when automation is foreseeable, adjustment by entrants is the best case — far less disruptive than mid-career switches.
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