The Returns to Computer Use Revisited: Have Pencils Changed the Wage Structure Too?

John DiNardo and Jorn-Steffen Pischke

The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1997, vol. 112, issue 1, 291-303

Abstract: Are the large measured wage differentials for on-the-job computer use a true return to computer skills, or do they just reflect that higher wage workers use computers on their jobs? We examine this issue with three large cross-sectional surveys from Germany. First, we confirm that the estimated wage differential associated with computer use in Germany is very similar to the U. S. differential. Second, we also measure large differentials for on-the-job use of calculators, telephones, pens or pencils, or for those who work while sitting down. We argue that these findings cast some doubt on the literal interpretation of the computer use wage differential as reflecting true returns to computer use or skill.

Date: 1997
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (398)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1162/003355397555190 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: The Returns to Computer Use Revisited: Have Pencils Changed the Wage Structure Too? (1996)
Working Paper: The Returns to Computer Use Revisited: Have Pencils Changed the Wage Structure Too? (1996)
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: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:qjecon:v:112:y:1997:i:1:p:291-303.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

The Quarterly Journal of Economics is currently edited by Robert J. Barro, Lawrence F. Katz, Nathan Nunn, Andrei Shleifer and Stefanie Stantcheva

More articles in The Quarterly Journal of Economics from President and Fellows of Harvard College
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press (joanna.bergh@oup.com).