increased consumption. 4 this phenomenon is observed not only in canada but also in other advanced economies. as technologies raise productivity, labour market dislocations occur over the transition period, but eventually new jobs are created to supply the goods and services that people buy with the extra income. the fact is that we do not know exactly which new sectors will be important employers 50 years from now. who in the early 1900s could have imagined the boom in health care, tourism and software development jobs? there are also many tasks that machines will not be capable of doing any time soon. an academic expert in this area of economics, david autor, maintains that humans will likely retain an advantage in jobs that require interpersonal interaction, flexibility, problem solving and common sense. these include personal care workers, plumbers, consultants and, i am hoping, central bankers. what is particularly important to consider this time is the impact that technological progress could have on income inequality. 5 technological advances may lead to higher incomes for workers whose skills are complemented by the technology, but not for those whose skills are substituted by it. the first wave of information technology in the 1980s and 1990s is a case in point. educated professionals like scientists and architects could use their skills more productively, while many less - educated workers, like bank tellers and travel agents, saw their jobs being displaced by technology. 6 this led to bigger employment shares for high - and lowskilled jobs at the expense of middle - skilled jobs in canada, along with a modest increase in income inequality. 7 the hollowing out of the middle could be further accentuated by automation. 8 moreover, the polarizing effect of technology on income distribution could be heightened by a winner - takes - all effect — this comes from the market power that new technologies can often bestow on their inventors. in parts of the information and communication technology ( ict ) sector, economies of scale such as network effects are already prominent. that said, for all the hype around the current wave of automation, we have yet to see the kind of productivity growth that is consistent with a technological revolution. while we sometimes see fast technological change in specific industries — fracking in the oil sector is one example — economy - wide technological transitions often play out over long periods. after the first central power station opened in the 1880s, electrification took four decades to have an impact on productivity in the united states. power grids had to be built, machines had to be replaced and new applications took

detailed rules that would be appropriate for large firms. let me be clear. the principles at the heart of canada ’ s regulatory framework must be as good as, or better than, those of any other country. but keep in mind that companies considered to be mid - sized in terms of capitalization in canada would be regarded as micro - capitalized by international standards. historically, canada ’ s public markets have done very well in funding these smaller companies 3 / 4 efficiently. this should continue in the future. so it is clear to me that our regulatory framework should take into account differing levels of size and complexity when establishing rules for disclosure. the rule requiring ceos to sign - off on their financial statements is a case in point. the principle behind the rule is to try to make sure that investors have sufficient and accurate information. holding the ceo accountable is a good way to go about this. the principle can work equally well for large and small firms. but we need to be careful. for very large and complex organizations, setting out some detailed rules in terms of procedures may be helpful. however, we do not need a whole raft of complex rules that tell the ceos of smaller firms what procedures they must follow before they can put their signatures on their financial statements. we need to be careful not to write rules that govern only the inputs that come before the ceo sign - off. rather, we need to focus on getting the output right, so that the document that the ceo signs actually gives investors sufficient and accurate information. efficiency dictates that canada should have uniform securities laws and regulations, based on principles that apply to everyone. some have taken this idea further and advocated for a single, pan - canadian securities regulator. i ’ m not here today to weigh in on that debate. but i do want to stress that, whatever the structure of the regulator, we must strive for efficiency in regulation - the best regulation, at the lowest cost. now let me talk briefly about another important information issue, and that is the issue of price transparency in markets. here, i am referring to timely, public disclosure of transaction details, such as price and volume. it is not difficult to see how this information leads to better resource allocation. the appropriate level of transparency may vary from market to market. generally, the more liquid the market, the higher the level of transparency it can support. however, the world is moving to greater transparency in all markets through the spread of technology. the bank of canada is conducting