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Technological change and wage premium in a small open economy: the case of Korea

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  • Kang-Shik Choi
  • Jinook Jeong

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between technological change and the educational wage premium in Korea. The main findings are as follows. First, the changes in educational wage premium were mostly affected by shifts in the supply of college graduates from 1983 to 1993 while the changes were affected more by the shifts in labour demand from 1993 to 2000. Second, the educational wage premium is greater in the industries with rapid technological change than in the industries with slower technological change. Third, the educational wage premium associated with the technological change is mostly explained by the returns to worker's unobserved heterogeneities, which is correlated with education, rather than the returns to education per se. Finally, there are some evidences that skill biased technologies are developed as the number of skilled workers are increasing.

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  • Kang-Shik Choi & Jinook Jeong, 2005. "Technological change and wage premium in a small open economy: the case of Korea," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 119-131.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:37:y:2005:i:1:p:119-131
    DOI: 10.1080/0003684042000290147
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    Cited by:

    1. Shandre Thangavelu & Aekapol Chongvilaivan, 2011. "The impact of material and service outsourcing on employment in Thailand's manufacturing industries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(27), pages 3931-3944.
    2. Thanos Fragkandreas, 2022. "Three Decades of Research on Innovation and Inequality: Causal Scenarios, Explanatory Factors, and Suggestions," Working Papers 60, Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research, revised Feb 2022.
    3. Jin-Long Liu & Chia-Hui Huang & Chih-Hai Yang, 2013. "Technological Change, Job Risk, and Wage Premium: Evidence from Taiwan," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 51(2), pages 186-202, June.
    4. Afonso, Oscar & Silva, Armando, 2012. "Non-scale endogenous growth effects of subsidies for exporters," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 1248-1257.
    5. Yen, Meng-Feng, 2013. "The Wage Premium and Market Structure: The Case of South Korea and Taiwan," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 151292, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Kang-Shik Choi & Jinook Jeong, 2007. "Does unmeasured ability explain the wage premium associated with technological change?: Quantile regression analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(9), pages 1163-1171.
    7. Gabriel Montes Rojas, 2006. "Skill premia in Mexico: demand and supply factors," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(14), pages 917-924.
    8. Oscar Afonso, 2006. "Skill-biased technological knowledge without scale effects," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(1), pages 13-21.
    9. Hansa Jain, 2018. "Technological Change, Skill Supply and Wage Distribution: Comparison of High-Technology and Low-Technology Industries in India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 61(2), pages 299-320, June.

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