> The whole system of relying on cheap labor in developing countries would have to change somewhat with decelerating population. The stuff in the West would be

> The whole system of relying on cheap labor in developing countries would have to change somewhat with decelerating population. The stuff in the West would be more expensive, although maybe with fewer workers wages couldn't be so stagnant. I don't think that's necessarily an obvious outcome. Right now cheap labor is taking away incentives to automate. Some things can't be automated economically, but given broad incentives across industry there will be a reorienting towards automation. For instance mobile phones components would be designed to be assembled without human intervention. Of course creating the automation requires labor but much less and it is more one-off.