IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/2732.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Technical Change, Learning, and Wages

Author

Listed:
  • Ann P. Bartel
  • Frank R. Lichtenberg

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between technological change and wages using pooled cross-sectional industry-level data and several alternative indicators of the rate of introduction of new technology. Our main finding is that industries with a high rate of technical change pay higher wages to workers of given age and education, compared to less technologically advanced industries. This is Consistent with the notion that the introduction of new technology creates a demand for learning, that learning is a function of employee ability and effort, and that increases in wages are required to elicit increases in ability and effort. A related finding is that the wages of highly educated workers (especially recent graduates) relative to those of less educated workers are highest in technologically advanced industries; this is consistent with the notion that educated workers are better learners.

Suggested Citation

  • Ann P. Bartel & Frank R. Lichtenberg, 1988. "Technical Change, Learning, and Wages," NBER Working Papers 2732, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:2732
    Note: LS PR
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w2732.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Edward C. Kokkelenberg & Donna R. Sockell, 1985. "Union Membership in the United States, 1973–1981," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 38(4), pages 497-543, July.
    2. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Interindustry Technology Flows and Productivity Growth: A Reexamination," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 241-250, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Akerlof, George A & Yellen, Janet L, 1988. "Fairness and Unemployment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(2), pages 44-49, May.
    4. Connolly, Robert A & Hirsch, Barry T & Hirschey, Mark, 1986. "Union Rent Seeking, Intangible Capital, and Market Value of the Firm," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 68(4), pages 567-577, November.
    5. Zvi Griliches, 1984. "R&D, Patents, and Productivity," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number gril84-1.
    6. Frederic Scherer, 1984. "Using Linked Patent and R&D Data to Measure Interindustry Technology Flows," NBER Chapters, in: R&D, Patents, and Productivity, pages 417-464, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. William T. Dickens & Lawrence F. Katz, 1986. "Interindustry Wage Differences and Industry Characteristics," NBER Working Papers 2014, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Bartel, Ann P & Lichtenberg, Frank R, 1987. "The Comparative Advantage of Educated Workers in Implementing New Technology," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 69(1), pages 1-11, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stavrev, Emil, 2000. "A Comparative Analysis of the Czech Republic and Hungary. Using small Continuous-Time Macroeconometric Models," Transition Economics Series 19, Institute for Advanced Studies.
    2. Thushyanthan Baskaran & Zohal Hessami, 2012. "Public education spending in a globalized world:," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 19(5), pages 677-707, October.
    3. Thushyanthan Baskaran & Zohal Hessami, 2011. "Public Education Spending in a Globalized World: Is there a Shift in Priorities Across Educational Stages?," Working Paper Series of the Department of Economics, University of Konstanz 2011-42, Department of Economics, University of Konstanz.
    4. Lichtenberg, Frank R. & Siegel, Donald, 1990. "The effects of leveraged buyouts on productivity and related aspects of firm behavior," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 165-194, September.
    5. Grace Yuehan Wang, 2022. "Talent Migration in Knowledge Economy: The Case of China’s Silicon Valley, Shenzhen," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 1175-1196, September.
    6. Alice Civera & Davide Donina & Michele Meoli & Silvio Vismara, 2020. "Fostering the creation of academic spinoffs: does the international mobility of the academic leader matter?," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 439-465, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. G Cameron, 1996. "Innovation and Economic Growth," CEP Discussion Papers dp0277, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    2. Hala Abou-Ali & Mohammed Belhaj, 2008. "Cost Benefit Analysis of Desert Locusts Control: A Multicountry Perspective," Working Papers 801, Economic Research Forum, revised 01 Jan 2008.
    3. Keller, Wolfgang, 2002. "Trade and the Transmission of Technology," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 5-24, March.
    4. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Mairesse, Jacques & Mohnen, Pierre, 2010. "Measuring the Returns to R&D," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1033-1082, Elsevier.
    5. Steven G. Allen, 1987. "Productivity Levels and Productivity Change Under Unionism," NBER Working Papers 2304, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. M. Ishaq Nadiri, 1993. "Innovations and Technological Spillovers," NBER Working Papers 4423, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Jun Koo, 2006. "In Search of New Knowledge: Its Origins and Destinations," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 20(3), pages 259-277, August.
    8. Diégo Legros & Fabrice Galia, 2012. "Are innovation and R&D the only sources of firms’ knowledge that increase productivity? An empirical investigation of French manufacturing firms," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 167-181, October.
    9. Marcello Estevao & Stacey Tevlin, 2000. "Do firms share their success with workers? The response of wages to product market conditions," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2000-17, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    10. James Bessen & Robert M. Hunt, 2007. "An Empirical Look at Software Patents," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(1), pages 157-189, March.
    11. Daniel J. Wilson, 2002. "Is Embodied Technology the Result of Upstream R&D? Industry-Level Evidence," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 5(2), pages 285-317, April.
    12. Jacques Mairesse & Pierre Mohnen, 1990. "Recherche-Développement et productivité : un survol de la littérature économétrique," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 237(1), pages 99-108.
    13. Ugur, Mehmet & Trushin, Eshref & Solomon, Edna & Guidi, Francesco, 2016. "R&D and productivity in OECD firms and industries: A hierarchical meta-regression analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 2069-2086.
    14. Ann P. Bartel & Nachum Sicherman, 1999. "Technological Change and Wages: An Interindustry Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(2), pages 285-325, April.
    15. de Rassenfosse, Gaetan & van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, Bruno, 2009. "A policy insight into the R&D-patent relationship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 779-792, June.
    16. Carl E. Pray & Catherine Neumeyer, 1990. "Trends and composition of private food and agricultural R & D expenditures in the United States," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 6(3), pages 191-207.
    17. Lach, Saul, 1995. "Patents and productivity growth at the industry level: A first look," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 101-108, July.
    18. Allen, Steven G, 2001. "Technology and the Wage Structure," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(2), pages 440-483, April.
    19. Martin Andersson & Hans Lööf, 2011. "Agglomeration and productivity: evidence from firm-level data," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 46(3), pages 601-620, June.
    20. Jacob Mincer, 1989. "Human Capital Responses to Technological Change in the Labor Market," NBER Working Papers 3207, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:2732. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.