This essay discusses the effect of technical change on wage inequality. I argue that the behavior of wages and returns to schooling indicates that technical change has been skill-biased during the past sixty years. Furthermore, the recent increase in inequality is most likely due to an acceleration

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University of PennsylvaniaHousehold-level panel data from a nationally representative sample of rural Indian households describing the adoption and profitability of high-yielding seed varieties (HYVs) associated with the Green Revolution are used to test the implications of a model incorporating learning-by-doing and learning spillovers. The estimates indicate that: (i) imperfect knowledge about the management of the new seeds was a significant barrier to adoption; (ii) this barrier diminished as farmer experience with the new technologies increased; (iii) own experience and neighbors ' experience with HYV significantly increased HYV profitability; (iv) farmers do not fully incorporate the village returns to learning in making adoption decisions 1 I.

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I analyze an economy in which pro...t-maximizing ...rms can undertake both laboror capital-augmenting technological improvements. In the long run, the economy looks like the standard growth model with purely labor-augmenting technical change, and the share of labor in GDP is constant. Along

We estimate an aggregate production function with constant elasticity of substitution between energy and a capital/labor composite using U.S. data. The implied measure of energysaving technical change appears to respond strongly to the oilprice shocks in the 1970s and has a negative medium

though socio-technical change

This paper introduces endogenous and directed technical change in a growth model with environmental constraints and limited resources. A unique final good is produced by combining inputs from two sectors. One of these sectors uses “dirty” machines and thus creates environmental degradation

The installation of high-speed networks using optical fiber and high bandwidth messsage forwarding gateways is changing the physical capabilities of information systems. These capabilities must be complemented with corresponding software systems advances to obtain a real benefit. Without smart

of changes that have been completed. For these reasons, the major value of socio-technical systems theory appears to be its considerable usefulness as a way of thinking about work systems and their redesign. In its present form, it has only limited use in generating new understanding through quantitative