IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wrk/warwec/1521.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The New Wave? The Role of Human Capital and STEM Skills in Technology Adoption in the UK

Author

Listed:
  • Draca, Mirko

    (CEP, London School of Economics ; Warwick University and CAGE Research Centre)

  • Nathan, Max

    (CEP, London School of Economics ; Warwick University and CAGE Research Centre ; University College London)

  • Nguyen-Tien, Viet

    (CEP, London School of Economics ; POID, London School of Economics)

  • Oliveira-Cunha, Juliana

    (CEP, London School of Economics ; IGC, London School of Economics)

  • Rosso, Anna

    (CEP, London School of Economics ; University of Insubria)

  • Valero, Anna

    (CEP, London School of Economics ; POID, London School of Economics)

Abstract

Which types of human capital influence the adoption of advanced technologies? We study the skill-biased adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) across two waves in the UK. Specifically, we compare the new wave of cloud and machine learning / AI technologies during the 2010s - pre-LLM - with the previous wave of personal computer adoption in the 1990s and early 2000s. At the area-level we see the emergence of a distinct STEM-biased adoption effect for the second wave of cloud and machine learning / AI technologies (ML/AI), alongside a general skill-biased effect. A one-standard deviation increase in the baseline share of STEM workers in areas is associated with around 0.3 of a standard deviation higher adoption of cloud and ML/AI. We find similar effects at the firm level where we are able to test for the influence of a wide range of skills. In turn, this STEM-biased adoption pattern has encouraged the concentration of these technologies, leading to more acute differences between high-tech and low-tech areas and firms. In contrast with classical technology diffusion, recent cloud and ML/AI adoption in the UK seems more likely to widen inequalities than reduce them

Suggested Citation

  • Draca, Mirko & Nathan, Max & Nguyen-Tien, Viet & Oliveira-Cunha, Juliana & Rosso, Anna & Valero, Anna, 2024. "The New Wave? The Role of Human Capital and STEM Skills in Technology Adoption in the UK," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1521, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:wrk:warwec:1521
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/workingpapers/2024/twerp_1521-_draca.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Technology Diffusion ; ICT ; Human Capital ; STEM JEL Codes: D22 ; J24 ; O33 ; R11;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

    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:wrk:warwec:1521. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Margaret Nash (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dewaruk.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.