Technological Revolutions

Francesco Caselli

American Economic Review, 1999, vol. 89, issue 1, 78-102

Abstract: In skill-biased (deskilling) technological revolutions, learning investments required by new machines are greater (smaller) than those required by preexisting machines. Skill-biased (deskilling) revolutions trigger reallocations of capital from slow- (fast-) to fast- (slow-) learning workers, thereby reducing the relative and absolute wages of the former. The model of skill-biased (deskilling) revolutions provides insight into developments since the mid-1970s (in the 1910s). The empirical work documents a large increase in the interindustry dispersion of capital-labor ratios since 1975. Changes in industry capital intensity are related to the skill composition of the labor force.

JEL-codes: J24 J31 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.89.1.78
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (356)

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