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Successive Technical Change and the Demand for Skill

Authors: Stijepic, Damir;

Successive Technical Change and the Demand for Skill

Abstract

Skill-Biased Technical Change is one of the most prominent explanations for the rise in wage inequality in the United States over the last decades. However, the explanation is challenged for several reasons. In this paper, I propose an alternative type of technical change, where new technologies are initially adopted only by a fraction of firms (henceforth referred to as Successive Technical Change). I show that the implications of Successive Technical Change - in a heterogeneous firms model with search frictions - are in line with a broad set of stylized facts I derive from the Current Population Survey and the Economic Census of the United States. In particular, the model is consistent with the polarization of within-group wage distributions and the revenue distribution, the rise in the skill premium, and the increase of the firm size wage premium of college-graduates relative to the one of non-college-graduates. Perhaps the most interesting prediction of the model is that - depending on the state of the economy - a policy that fosters technology adoption at small and medium sized firms may decrease inequality.

Keywords

ddc:330, O30, J63, J31, jel: jel:O30, jel: jel:J31, jel: jel:J63

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
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