Luddites and the Demographic Transition

Kevin H. O'Rourke (), Ahmed S. Rahman () and Alan M. Taylor ()

No 14484, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Technological change was unskilled-labor-biased during the early Industrial Revolution, but is skill-biased today. This is not embedded in extant unified growth models. We develop a model which can endogenously account for these facts, where factor bias reflects profit-maximizing decisions by innovators. Endowments dictate that the early Industrial Revolution be unskilled-labor-biased. Increasing basic knowledge causes a growth takeoff, an income-led demand for fewer educated children, and the transition to skill-biased technological change. The simulated model tracks British industrialization in the 18th and 19th centuries and generates a demographic transition without relying on either rising skill premia or exogenous educational supply shocks.

JEL-codes: J13 J24 N10 O31 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dge, nep-his and nep-lab
Date: 2008-11
Note: DAE
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Working Paper: Luddites and the Demographic Transition (2008)
Working Paper: Luddites and the Demographic Transition (2008)
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