Capital-Task Complementarity and the Decline of the U.S. Labor Share of Income

Musa Orak

No 1200, International Finance Discussion Papers from Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.)

Abstract: This paper provides evidence that shifts in the occupational composition of the U.S. workforce are the most important factor explaining the trend decline in the labor share over the past four decades. Estimates suggest that while there is unitary elasticity between equipment capital and non-routine tasks, equipment capital and routine tasks are highly substitutable. Through the lenses of a general equilibrium model with occupational choice and the estimated production technology, I document that the fall in relative price of equipment capital alone can explain 72 percent of the observed decline in the U.S. labor share. In addition, I find that differences in labor share trends across sectors can be accounted for by varying sensitivities of cost of production to the price of equipment capital.

Keywords: Labor share; Technological change; Capital-task complementarity; Elasticity of substitution; Job polarization; Bayesian estimation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C11 E22 E23 E25 J24 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 73 pages
Date: 2017-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fip:fedgif:1200

DOI: 10.17016/IFDP.2017.1200

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