<b>Coordinating AI Adoption and Workforce Skill Investment: Policy Allocation under Technology–Skill Complementarity</b>

We develop a two-stage Stackelberg–Nash game involving the government, firms, and employees, in which AI adoption and skill investment are determined endogenously. Equilibrium analysis, state-dependent policy comparisons, and numerical simulations reveal four key mechanisms.

First, skill investment raises the marginal return to AI adoption, and this effect strengthens with technology–skill complementarity. Second, the relative effectiveness of technology subsidies and training support depends on the binding production constraint: as complementarity strengthens, policy emphasis shifts from AI adoption towards skill development. Third, when AI diffusion outpaces workforce adaptation, complementarity can erode, weakening the contribution of skills to AI-enabled productivity.