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Computer, Wages and Working Hours in Italy

Author

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  • Riccardo LUCCHETTI

    (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia)

  • Stefano STAFFOLANI

    (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia)

  • Alessandro STERLACCHINI

    (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Management ed Organizzazione Aziendale)

Abstract

This paper provides an estimate of the relationships between wages, working hours and the use of computers at the workplace for the Italian labour market. On the methodological side, we other a contribution on the appropriate procedure for estimating the above effects: it is shown that the simultaneity between wages and hours must be taken into account when specifying the statistical model for the data and, furthermore, that the interactions between explanatory variables plays a significant role that cannot be neglected. Our empirical findings are also of interest: by controlling for computer skill, workers' ability and many other covariates, we found that only for higher-level white collars the average wage premium associated with computer usage is in the same order of magnitude as the one estimated for the US, Germany and France, while the effect vanishes for lower qualifications. The use of computers at work increases the number of hours worked, although this effect is small and much lower than that estimated for the US. Moreover, since hourly wages have a negative impact on hours worked, computers seem to exert little, if any, impact on working time.

Suggested Citation

  • Riccardo LUCCHETTI & Stefano STAFFOLANI & Alessandro STERLACCHINI, 2003. "Computer, Wages and Working Hours in Italy," Working Papers 182, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    • Handle: RePEc:anc:wpaper:182
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    Cited by:

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    2. Ugo FRATESI, 2003. "Innovation Diffusion and the Evolution of Regional Disparities," Working Papers 186, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    3. Renato BALDUCCI, 2005. "Public Expenditure and Economic Growth. A critical extension of Barro's (1990) model," Working Papers 240, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    4. Nicola MATTEUCCI & Alessandro STERLACCHINI, 2003. "ICT and Employment Growth in Italian Industries," Working Papers 193, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    5. Riccardo Leoni & Paola Gritti, 2017. "Institutional Wage Setting, Distinctive Competencies and Wage Premia," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 3(1), pages 71-111, March.
    6. Paola Gritti & Riccardo Leoni, 2013. "The impact on wages of generic competencies, psychological capital, new work practices and digital technologies," Working Papers (2013-) 1301, University of Bergamo, Department of Management, Economics and Quantitative Methods.
    7. Matteo PICCHIO, 2006. "Wage Differentials between Temporary and Permanent Workers in Italy," Working Papers 257, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    8. Marcello MESSORI & Alberto ZAZZARO, 2004. "Monetary profits within the circuit: Ponzi finance oer "mors tua, vita mea"?," Working Papers 200, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    9. Roberto ESPOSTI & Pierpaolo PIERANI, 2005. "Price, Private Demand and Optimal Provision of Public R&D in Italian Agriculture," Working Papers 238, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    10. Elvio MATTIOLI, 2003. "The measurement of coherence in the evaluation of criteria and its effects or ranking problems illustrated using a multicriteria decision method," Working Papers 199, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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