Productivity, Computerization, and Skill Change

Edward Nathan Wolff ()

No 8743, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Using pooled cross-section, time-series data for 44 industries over the decades of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s in the United States, I find no econometric evidence that computer investment is positively linked to TFP growth (over and above its inclusion in the TFP measure). However, computerization is positively associated with occupational restructuring and changes in the composition of intermediate inputs and capital coefficients. There is modest evidence that the growth of worker skills is positively related to industry productivity growth. The effects are very modest -- adding at most 0.07 percentage points to annual labor productivity growth.

JEL-codes: D24 O30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-lab and nep-tid
Date: 2002-01
Note: PR
View list of references View citations in EconPapers

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w8743.pdf (application/pdf)
Access to the full text is generally limited to series subscribers, however if the top level domain of the client browser is in a developing country or transition economy free access is provided. More information about subscriptions and free access is available at http://www.nber.org/wwphelp.html.

Related works:
Journal Article: Productivity, computerization, and skill change (2002)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:8743

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w8743
The price is Paper copy available by mail.

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc
Address: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Contact information at EDIRC.
Series data maintained by ().