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Labor Demand and Information Technologies: Evidence for Spain, 1980-2005

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Listed:
  • Manuel A. Hidalgo Pérez

    (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide)

  • Jesús Rodríguez López

    (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide)

  • José María O´Kean Alonso

    (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide)

Abstract

Using the EU KLEMS dataset we test the capital-skill complementarity hypothesis in a cross-section of sectors in Spain between 1980 and 2005. We analyze three groups of workers, who are classed according to skill level: high, medium and low. Capital assets have been broken down into ICT (information and communication technologies) assets and non-ICT assets. Acquisition and usage costs of ICT assets declined throughout the period studied, both in absolute terms and relative to the other capital assets and workers. Our principal finding is that the substitutibility between workers and ICT assets falls as worker skill level rises. In fact, the ICT assets were strongly complement with highly skilled workers and were not substitutive with them. Throughout the period analyzed, the fraction of employed medium- and high-skill workers rose by 21% and 12%, respectively, to the disadvantage of low-skill workers. After decomposing these changes, we found that the latter were dominated by an ajustment within sectors more than by a composition effect or adjustment between sectors. These adjustments may be explained by reference to the estimated elasticities of substitution.

Suggested Citation

  • Manuel A. Hidalgo Pérez & Jesús Rodríguez López & José María O´Kean Alonso, 2008. "Labor Demand and Information Technologies: Evidence for Spain, 1980-2005," Working Papers 08.12, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:pab:wpaper:08.12
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    Cited by:

    1. Manuel Hidalgo Pérez & Walter García-Fontes, 2009. "Estimating Human Capital Externalities:The Case of Spanish Regions," Working Papers 09.17, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
    2. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Sara Rica, 2013. "The immigration surplus and the substitutability of immigrant and native labor: evidence from Spain," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 945-958, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    capital-skill complementarity; ICT; translog cost function; elasticity of substitution.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • 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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