The Nature of Technological Change 1960-2016

RePEc Short ID: pma3033
ORCID iD: 0009-0006-0674-4651

Cavounidis, Costas; Dicandia, Vittoria; Lang, Kevin; Malhotra, Raghav

doi:10.26509/frbc-wp-202428

Working Paper

The Nature of Technological Change 1960-2016

Abstract: We present a unified technological explanation of both the movement of workers across jobs using different skills and the changes in skill use within jobs. An envelope-theorem approach allows us to estimate relative skill-productivity growth from worker mobility using OLS while making minimal assumptions on each occupation's production function. Using six decades of data, we conclude that routine-cognitive- and finger-dexterity-skill productivity grew rapidly and abstract- and social-skill productivity grew slowly - a form of "skill bias." These effects, along with our estimated relationships between skill inputs, also explain changes in skill use within occupations.

Keywords: skills; technological change;

JEL Classification: J24; O33;

https://doi.org/10.26509/frbc-wp-202428