Skill-Biased Organizational Change? Evidence From A Panel Of British And French Establishments
Abstract
This paper investigates the determination and consequences of organizational changes (OC) in a panel of British and French establishments. Organizational changes include the decentralization of authority, delayering of managerial functions, and increased multitasking. We argue that OC and skills are complements. We offer support for the hypothesis of "skill-biased" organizational change with three empirical findings. First, organizational changes reduce the demand for unskilled workers in both countries. Second, OC is negatively associated with increases in regional skill price differentials (a measure of the relative supply of skill). Third, OC leads to greater productivity increases in establishments with larger initial skill endowments. Technical change is also complementary with human capital, but the effects of OC is not simply due to its correlation with technological change but has an independent role. © 2001 the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyDownload Info
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Bibliographic Info
Article provided by MIT Press in its journal The Quarterly Journal of Economics.
Volume (Year): 116 (2001)
Issue (Month): 4 (November)
Pages: 1449-1492
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Web page: http://mitpress.mit.edu/journals/
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Web: http://mitpress.mit.edu/journal-home.tcl?issn=00335533
Related research
Keywords:Other versions of this item:
- Caroli, Eve & Van Reenen, John, 1999. "Skill biased organizational change? Evidence from a panel of British and French establishments," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Couverture Orange) 9917, CEPREMAP.
- L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
- J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
- O3 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change; Research and Development; Intellectual Property Rights
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