Description: Department Seminar

Location: 368A Heady Hall

Contact Person: Juan Carlos Cordoba

Title: New Technologies & the Skill Premium

Paper Description: The college wage premium in the United States increased significantly from 1980 to 2000, according to data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), but has since flattened. Two prominent theories for these trends are: skill-biased technical change (Katz and Murphy) and capital-skill complementarity (Krusell et al., KORV). Building on Schultz’s (1975) idea that skilled workers thrive in dynamic environments, the paper argues that inequality is influenced by the age distribution of technologies and the rate of standardization. Using a novel approach that combines data from patents, Wikipedia, and job postings, the paper quantifies the broader implications for inequality over time and across other relevant dimensions.