Technological Change, Inequality and Work Sharing

Thomas Moutos

No 30, Working Papers from ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality

Abstract: The effects of technological change on wage inequality are usually studied under the assumption of exogenous supplies of skilled and unskilled workers. Moreover, in these studies there is no distinction between the stock (number of workers) and the flow (hours of work) dimension of labour services. In the present paper we construct a model in which hours of work and technological change affect both the (relative) demand and supply of unskilled workers. The labour supply of unskilled workers (numbers of persons) is derived from a model of household labour supply in which households differ regarding the disutility suffered when both household members work. Combining together the (relative) supply and demand parts of the model we are able to study the effects of technological change on wage and income inequality and to provide an explanation of recent trends more consistent with the stylized facts.

Keywords: technological change; inequality; household labour supply; work sharing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D33 E25 J22 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2006
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Journal Article: TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE, INEQUALITY AND WORK SHARING (2006)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2006-30

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