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What Happens When Agent T Gets a Computer? The Labor Market Impact of Cost Efficient Computer Adoption Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics Borghans, Lex () (ROA, Maastricht University and IZA Bonn)
ter Weel, Bas (MERIT, Maastricht University)
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This paper offers a model to explain how computer technology has changed the labor market. It demonstrates that wage differentials between computer users and non-users are consistent with the fact that computers are first introduced in high-wage jobs because of cost efficiency. Furthermore, skill upgrading occurs because of a reemphasis on non-routine tasks after computer adoption. The model also reveals that neither differences in computer skills nor complementary skills are needed to explain wage differentials between computer users and non-users, skill upgrading, and the changing organization and intensity of work. Finally, the predicted effects on the wage structure following the diffusion of computers are consistent with the empirical evidence.
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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number
792.
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Length: 27 pages
Date of creation: Jun 2003Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp792Contact details of provider: Postal: IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany Phone: +49 228 3894 223 Fax: +49 228 3894 180 Web page: http://www.iza.org
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Keywords: wage differentials by skill ; computer use and skill ; Other versions of this item:
Find related papers by JEL classification: J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials O33 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
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references Cited by : (explanations , Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile , click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)
Borghans,Lex & Weel,Bas,ter, 2005.
"The Division of Labour, Worker Organisation, and Technological Change ,"
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Lex Borghans & Bas ter Weel, 2005.
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[Downloadable!] Borghans,Lex & Weel ,Bas ,ter, 2005.
"The Division of Labour, Worker Organisation, and Technological Change ,"
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022, Maastricht : MERIT, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology.
[Downloadable!] Lex Borghans & Bas Weel, 2006.
"The Division of Labour, Worker Organisation, and Technological Change ,"
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