Whither the Walking Dead? The Consequences of Artificial Intelligence for Zombie Firms
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Ryan Banerjee
Abstract
Zombie firms have been a prominent yet controversial subject of academic and policy debates in recent years. In this article, we first revisit the economic consequences and driving factors of zombie companies and then, based on this assessment, discuss the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) for zombie firms. We document that the share of zombie firms in advanced economies has risen considerably over the past three decades, and that this increase has been a significant drag on productivity growth. We further find that persistently low interest rates are a significant causal factor underlying the rise of zombie companies. Turning to AI, we argue that an AI-induced productivity boom may counteract the drag from zombie firms and improve firm performance, mitigating corporate zombification. Moreover, by leading to higher interest rates that force zombie firms to exit markets, AI may boost productivity further in the longer run – a so far overlooked channel in the debate on the economic implications of AI.
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© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Editorial: Productivity Growth in the Age of AI
- Policy Papers (No Special Focus)
- Inflation and Fiscal Policy: Is There a Threshold Effect in the Fiscal Reaction Function?
- Whither the Walking Dead? The Consequences of Artificial Intelligence for Zombie Firms
- The Energy Transition and Its Macroeconomic Effects
- The Potential and Distributional Effects of CBAM Revenues as a New EU Own Resource
- Will Geopolitics Accelerate China’s Drive Towards De-Dollarization?
- The Political Economy of Academic Freedom
- Policy Forum: Productivity Growth in the Age of AI
- Macroeconomic Productivity Effects of Artificial Intelligence
- New Technologies: End of Work or Structural Change?
- The AI Revolution: A New Paradigm of Economic Order
- The Interplay of Humans, Technology, and Organizations in Realizing AI’s Productivity Promise
- How Can Artificial Intelligence Transform Asset Management?
- Is the EU’s AI Act Merely a Distraction from Europe’s Productivity Problem?
- AI in Europe – Is Regulation the Answer to Being a Laggard?
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Editorial: Productivity Growth in the Age of AI
- Policy Papers (No Special Focus)
- Inflation and Fiscal Policy: Is There a Threshold Effect in the Fiscal Reaction Function?
- Whither the Walking Dead? The Consequences of Artificial Intelligence for Zombie Firms
- The Energy Transition and Its Macroeconomic Effects
- The Potential and Distributional Effects of CBAM Revenues as a New EU Own Resource
- Will Geopolitics Accelerate China’s Drive Towards De-Dollarization?
- The Political Economy of Academic Freedom
- Policy Forum: Productivity Growth in the Age of AI
- Macroeconomic Productivity Effects of Artificial Intelligence
- New Technologies: End of Work or Structural Change?
- The AI Revolution: A New Paradigm of Economic Order
- The Interplay of Humans, Technology, and Organizations in Realizing AI’s Productivity Promise
- How Can Artificial Intelligence Transform Asset Management?
- Is the EU’s AI Act Merely a Distraction from Europe’s Productivity Problem?
- AI in Europe – Is Regulation the Answer to Being a Laggard?
