The Effects of Computers and Acquired Skills on Earnings, Employment and College Enrollment: Evidence from a Field Experiment and California UI Earnings Records / Robert W. Fairlie, Peter Riley Bahr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fairlie, Robert W.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Bahr, Peter Riley.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w24276.

NBER working paper series no. w24276

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Effects of Computers and Acquired Skills on Earnings, Employment and College Enrollment

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2018.

Summary:

This paper provides the first evidence on the earnings, employment and college enrollment effects of computers and acquired skills from a randomized controlled trial providing computers to entering college students. We matched confidential administrative data from California Employment Development Department (EDD)/Unemployment Insurance (UI) system earnings records, the California Community College system, and the National Student Clearinghouse to all study participants for seven years after the random provision of computers. The experiment does not provide evidence that computer skills have short- or medium-run effects on earnings. These null effects are found along both the extensive and intensive margins of earnings (although the estimates are not precise). We also do not find evidence of positive or negative effects on college enrollment. A non-experimental analysis of CPS data reveals large, positive and statistically significant relationships between home computers, and earnings, employment and college enrollment, raising concerns about selection bias in non-experimental studies.

Notes:

Print version record

February 2018.