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Wage Inequality, R&D Labor and R&D Productivity

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  • Toshihiro Okada

    (School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University)

Abstract

This paper examines the transitional dynamics of an R&D-based endogenous growth model with heterogeneous labor and explains the post-war comovement of three variables in the U.S. economy: the skill premium, the share of labor devoted to R&D and the growth rate of labor productivity. This paper provides a complete dynamic analysis of the model. We argue that the changing distribution of high skilled workers between sectors may have played an important role in explaining the U.S. skill premium movement, and we show that the transitional dynamics initiated by the structural change (possibly the decrease in R&D productivity in the late 1960s) can explain the comovement of the three variables.

Suggested Citation

  • Toshihiro Okada, 2012. "Wage Inequality, R&D Labor and R&D Productivity," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 32(4), pages 3036-3052.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-12-00551
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    R&D; Endogenous Growth Models; Skill Premium and Transitional Dynamics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights
    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity

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