Skill-biased technical change, educational choice, and labor market polarization: the U.S. versus Europe

Ryosuke Okazawa ()

The Journal of Economic Inequality, 2013, vol. 11, issue 3, 342 pages

Abstract: This paper analyzes the effect of recent technical change on the labor market and explains the observed differences in wage inequality among advanced countries. In particular, we focus on the difference between the inequality in the U.S. and in continental Europe. Many studies have indicated a rise in wage inequality in the U.S. over the past three decades. On the other hand, there has been little change in wage inequality in continental Europe. By introducing human capital investment into the model by Acemoglu (Am Econ Rev 89:1259–1278, 1999 ), we show that ex ante homogeneous economies would have distinct ex post wage distribution. The strategic complementarity between human capital investment and firms’ hiring strategies yields the possibility that multiple equilibria exist, which explains the difference in wage distribution between the U.S. and Europe. In addition, we show that differences in tax or education systems can explain the difference in wage distribution between the U.S. and Europe. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. 2013

Keywords: Skill-biased technical change; Wage inequality; Human capital investment; Matching; E24; J24; J31; J64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:jecinq:v:11:y:2013:i:3:p:321-342

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DOI: 10.1007/s10888-012-9223-6

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