Technology, Computers, and Wages : Evidence from a Developing Economy
Increasing returns to schooling and rising inequality are well documented for industrial countries and for some developing countries. The growing demand for skills is associated with recent technological developments. The authors argue that compute...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/03/2191895/technology-computers-wages-evidence-developing-economy http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18308 |
| Summary: | Increasing returns to schooling and
rising inequality are well documented for industrial
countries and for some developing countries. The growing
demand for skills is associated with recent technological
developments. The authors argue that computers in the
workplace represent one manifestation of these changes.
Research in the United States and industrial countries
documents a premium for computer use. But there is recent
evidence suggesting that computer skills by themselves do
not command a wage premium. The authors review the
literature and use data from a survey of higher education
graduates in Vietnam. The results support the unobserved
heterogeneity explanation for computer wage premiums. They
suggest that computers may make the productive workers even
more productive. However, given the scarcity of computers in
low-income countries, an operational strategy of increasing
computer availability and skills would seem to offer
considerable hope for increasing the incomes of the poor. |
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