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The Changing Structure of Wages in the US and Germany: What Explains the Differences?

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Paul Beaudry
David Green

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Abstract

Over the last twenty years the wage-education relationships in the US and Germany have evolved very differently, while the education composition of employment has evolved in a surprisingly parallel fashion. In this paper, we propose and test an explanation to these conflicting patterns. The model we present has two important elements: (1) technological change arises in the form of an alternative production process as opposed to being in the factor augmenting form, which renders technological adoption endogenous, (2) aggregate production depends on three factors (physical capital, human capital and labor). Based on this framework, we show why imbalances in the accumulation of human versus physical capital will be especially detrimental to low skill workers when the new technology is skill-biased and exhibits capital-skill complementarity. Using matched files from the PSID (US) and the GSOEP (Germany), we demonstrate how factor movements within these countries are associated with wage changes that are strongly supportive of our endogenous technological adoption model. Our conclusion is that the difference in the US and German experiences appear driven by the US having under-accumulated physical capital relative human capital over the 1979-96 period, while Germany accumulated factors in a more balanced manner.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 7697.

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Date of creation: May 2000
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:7697

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
O3 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change

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References listed on IDEAS
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  2. Per Krusell & Lee E. Ohanian & Jose-Victor Rios-Rull & Giovanni L. Violante, 1997. "Capital-skill complementarity and inequality: a macroeconomic analysis," Staff Report 239, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Richard B. Freeman & Ronald Schettkat, 2000. "The Role of Wage and Skill Differences in US-German Employment Differences," NBER Working Papers 7474, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Timothy F. Bresnahan & Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2002. "Information Technology, Workplace Organization, And The Demand For Skilled Labor: Firm-Level Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 117(1), pages 339-376, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Francesco Caselli, 1999. "Technological Revolutions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(1), pages 78-102, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Joseph Zeira, 1998. "Workers, Machines, And Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(4), pages 1091-1117, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Duranton, Gilles, 2004. "The economics of production systems: Segmentation and skill-biased change," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 307-336, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. repec:fth:prinin:390 is not listed on IDEAS
  9. Alan B. Krueger & Jorn-Steffen Pischke, 1997. "Observations and Conjectures on the U.S. Employment Miracle," NBER Working Papers 6146, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Paul Beaudry & David Green, 1998. "What is Driving US and Canadian Wages: Exogenous Technical Change or Endogenous Choice of Technique?," NBER Working Papers 6853, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Peter Gottschalk & Timothy M. Smeeding, 1997. "Cross-National Comparisons of Earnings and Income Inequality," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(2), pages 633-687, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Acemoglu, Daron, 1996. "Changes in Unemployment and Wage Inequality: An Alternative Theory and Some Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 1459, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. BERMAN Eli,BOUND John, MACHIN Stephen, 1997. "Implications of skilled-biased technological change:international evidence," Research Institute of Industrial Economics Working Papers 486, Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN).
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  14. David Card & Francis Kramarz & Thomas Lemieux, 1996. "Changes in the Relative Structure of Wages and Employment: A Comparison of the United States, Canada, and France," NBER Working Papers 5487, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Claudia Goldin & Lawrence F. Katz, 1999. "The Returns to Skill in the United States across the Twentieth Century," NBER Working Papers 7126, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Acemoglu, Daron, 2002. "Directed Technical Change," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 69(4), pages 781-809, October.
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  17. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M & Pierce, Brooks, 1993. "Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(3), pages 410-42, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Matthias Weiss & Alfred Garloff, 2005. "Skill Biased Technological Change and Endogenous Benefits: The Dynamics of Unemployment and Wage Inequality," MEA discussion paper series 05100, Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA), University of Mannheim. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Paul Beaudry & Mark Doms & Ethan Lewis, 2006. "Endogenous skill bias in technology adoption: city-level evidence from the IT revolution," Working Paper Series 2006-24, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Daron Acemoglu, 2002. "Cross-Country Inequality Trends," NBER Working Papers 8832, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Paul Beaudry & David A. Green, 2002. "Population Growth, Technological Adoption, and Economic Outcomes in the Information Era," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 5(4), pages 749-774, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Paul Beaudry & David Green, 2001. "Population Growth, Technological Adoption and Economic Outcomes: A Theory of Cross-Country Differences for the Information Era," NBER Working Papers 8149, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Heisz, Andrew & Jackson, Andrew & Picot, Garnett, 2002. "Winners and Losers in the Labour Market of the 1990s," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2002184e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch. [Downloadable!]
  7. Heisz, Andrew & Jackson, Andrew & Picot, Garnett, 2002. "Les entreprises gagnantes et perdantes du marché de l'emploi des années 90," Direction des études analytiques : documents de recherche 2002184f, Statistics Canada, Direction des études analytiques. [Downloadable!]
  8. Rehme, Guenther, 2002. "(Re-)Distribution of Personal Incomes, Education and Economic Performance Across Countri," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
  9. Bas Jacobs, . "The lost race between schooling and technology," CPB Discussion Papers 25, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Giancarlo Corsetti & John Flemming & Seppo Honkapohja & Willi Leibfritz & Gilles Saint-Paul & Hans-Werner Sinn & Xavier Vives, 2002. "Growth and Productivity," EEAG Report on the European Economy, CESifo Group Munich, vol. 0, pages 57-70, 04. [Downloadable!]
  11. Geishecker, Ingo & Görg, Holger, 2004. "Winners and Losers: Fragmentation, Trade and Wages Revisited," IZA Discussion Papers 982, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  12. Paul Beaudry & Fabrice Collard, 2002. "Why has the Employment-Productivity Tradeoff among Industrialized Countries been so strong?," NBER Working Papers 8754, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Timothy M. Smeeding, 2002. "Globalization, Inequality, and the Rich Countries of the G-20: Evidence from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS)," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 48, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University. [Downloadable!]
  14. Paul Beaudry & Fabrice Collard & David A. Green, 2005. "Explaining Productivity Growth: The Role of Demographics," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 10, pages 45-58, Spring. [Downloadable!]
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