A Theory of Defensive Skill-Biased Innovation and Globalization

Mathias Thoenig and Thierry Verdier

American Economic Review, 2003, vol. 93, issue 3, 709-728

Abstract: This paper considers a dynamic model of innovations in which firms can endogenously bias the direction of technological change. Both in a North-North and North-South context, we show that, when globalization triggers an increased threat of technological leapfrogging or imitation, firms tend to respond to that threat by biasing the direction of their innovations towards skilled-labor-intensive technologies. We show that this process of defensive skill-biased innovations generates an increase in wage inequalities in both regions. We then discuss suggestive empirical evidence of the existence of defensive skill-biased technical change.

Date: 2003
Note: DOI: 10.1257/000282803322157052
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (135)

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Working Paper: A Theory of Defensive Skill-based Innovation and Globalization (2002)
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