The Acceleration Paradox: How Coercive Protectionism Catalyzes Technological Replacement in the Age of Generative AI

Abstract

This paper identifies and formalizes the Acceleration Paradox: a structural economic phenomenon in which defensive market interventions by organized labor—specifically mandatory wage inflation, rigid employment guarantees, and operational vetoes—inadvertently lower the financial and operational threshold for capital to adopt generative AI and automation technologies. Traditional labor economics posits that wage increases induce capital-labor substitution along a smooth production frontier. However, in the era of high-fixed-cost, low-marginal-cost cognitive automation, labor market rigidity introduces non-linear administrative friction that transforms capital's technology adoption decision from a gradual evaluation into an immediate strategic necessity. Drawing on task-based frameworks of technological change, game-theoretic modeling, and generational political economy, this study demonstrates how institutional protectionism accelerates the obsolescence of the very workforce it seeks to preserve.