Artificial Intelligence and the Rents of Finance Workers
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Series
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Speaker(s)Jean Edouard Colliard (HEC Paris, France)
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FieldFinance, Accounting and Finance
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LocationErasmus University Rotterdam, Campus Woudestein, Van der Goot M1-16 (Heidelberg)
Rotterdam -
Date and time
November 17, 2026
11:45 - 13:00
Abstract
This paper studies how artificial intelligence (AI) affects the finance labor market when humans and AI perform different tasks in investment projects, and workers earn agency rents that grow with project size. We identify two key effects of AI improvement: A free-riding effect raises worker rents by increasing the probability of successful investment when the worker shirks; A capital reallocation effect shifts investment toward workers with higher or lower rents, depending on which tasks AI improves. The model generates predictions that would not obtain with a frictionless labor market. In particular, AI can increase labor demand and workers' rents even when substituting for workers.