Did the Computer Revolution shift the fortunes of U.S. cities? Technology shocks and the geography of new jobs
(2016) In Regional Science and Urban Economics 57. p.38-45- Abstract
- This paper shows how the Computer Revolution of the 1980s shifted the economic trajectories of U.S. cities. Examining the emergence of new occupational titles in official census classifications, we document a sharp reversal in the skill content of new jobs. While technological change was biased towards routine skills throughout the 1970s, new job titles mainly appeared in occupations and industries that required abstract skills after 1980. This reversal is also reflected in the geography of new jobs. Following the Computer Revolution, the creation of new jobs shifted towards cities with endowments of analytical and interactive skills. Our results suggest that the recent divergence of U.S. cities can in part be explained by the... (More)
- This paper shows how the Computer Revolution of the 1980s shifted the economic trajectories of U.S. cities. Examining the emergence of new occupational titles in official census classifications, we document a sharp reversal in the skill content of new jobs. While technological change was biased towards routine skills throughout the 1970s, new job titles mainly appeared in occupations and industries that required abstract skills after 1980. This reversal is also reflected in the geography of new jobs. Following the Computer Revolution, the creation of new jobs shifted towards cities with endowments of analytical and interactive skills. Our results suggest that the recent divergence of U.S. cities can in part be explained by the complementarities between new technologies and skill endowments. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3434b98b-7b66-4012-82bf-cba072bade74
- author
- Berger, Thor LU and Frey, Carl Benedikt LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2016
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Regional Science and Urban Economics
- volume
- 57
- pages
- 38 - 45
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84954233376
- ISSN
- 0166-0462
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2015.11.003
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 3434b98b-7b66-4012-82bf-cba072bade74
- date added to LUP
- 2019-10-25 13:57:50
- date last changed
- 2022-03-26 00:08:13
@article{3434b98b-7b66-4012-82bf-cba072bade74, abstract = {{This paper shows how the Computer Revolution of the 1980s shifted the economic trajectories of U.S. cities. Examining the emergence of new occupational titles in official census classifications, we document a sharp reversal in the skill content of new jobs. While technological change was biased towards routine skills throughout the 1970s, new job titles mainly appeared in occupations and industries that required abstract skills after 1980. This reversal is also reflected in the geography of new jobs. Following the Computer Revolution, the creation of new jobs shifted towards cities with endowments of analytical and interactive skills. Our results suggest that the recent divergence of U.S. cities can in part be explained by the complementarities between new technologies and skill endowments.}}, author = {{Berger, Thor and Frey, Carl Benedikt}}, issn = {{0166-0462}}, language = {{eng}}, pages = {{38--45}}, publisher = {{Elsevier}}, series = {{Regional Science and Urban Economics}}, title = {{Did the Computer Revolution shift the fortunes of U.S. cities? Technology shocks and the geography of new jobs}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2015.11.003}}, doi = {{10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2015.11.003}}, volume = {{57}}, year = {{2016}}, }