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The Returns to Computer Use Revisited: Have Pencils Changed the Wage Structure Too?
Abstract
Are the large measured wage differentials for on-the-job computer use a true return to computer skills, or do they just reflect that higher wage workers use computers on their jobs? We examine this issue with three large cross-sectional surveys from Germany. First, we confirm that the estimated wage differential associated with computer use in Germany is very similar to the U. S. differential. Second, we also measure large differentials for on-the-job use of calculators, telephones, pens or pencils, or for those who work while sitting down. We argue that these findings cast some doubt on the literal interpretation of the computer use wage differential as reflecting true returns to computer use or skill.
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Citations
Cited by
Abadie, A., Diamond, A., & Hainmueller, J. (2010) · Journal of the American Statistical Association · doi:10.1198/jasa.2009.ap08746 · Cited by 5,513
Skills, Tasks and Technologies: Implications for Employment and Earnings
Acemoglu, D., & Autor, D. (2011) · Handbook of Labor Economics · doi:10.1016/s0169-7218(11)02410-5 · Cited by 3,799
Skills, Tasks and Technologies: Implications for Employment and Earnings
Acemoglu, D., & Autor, D. (2010) · doi:10.3386/w16082 · Cited by 2,180
Computing inequality: have computers changed the labor market?
Autor, D. H., Katz, L. F., & Krueger, A. B. (1998) · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · doi:10.1162/003355398555874 · Cited by 1,830
Technical change, inequality, and the labor market
Acemoglu, D. (2002) · Journal of Economic Literature · doi:10.1257/jel.40.1.7 · Cited by 1,767
Metadata
- Authors
- DiNardo, J. E., & Pischke, J.-S.
- Venue
- The Quarterly Journal of Economics
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 1997-02-01
- Volume
- 112
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 291-303
- ISSN
- 0033-5533 (ISSN-L)
- 1531-4650
- OpenAlex
- W2107545377
- Cited by
- 603
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 59.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- DiNardo, J. E., & Pischke, J.-S. (1997). The Returns to Computer Use Revisited: Have Pencils Changed the Wage Structure Too? The Quarterly Journal of Economics. https://doi.org/10.1162/003355397555190
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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