The Returns to Computer Use Revisited: Have Pencils Changed the Wage Structure Too? / John E. DiNardo, Jorn-Steffen Pischke.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

DiNardo, John E.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Pischke, Jorn-Steffen.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w5606.

NBER working paper series no. w5606

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

The Returns to Computer Use Revisited

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1996.

Summary:

Are the large measured wage differentials associated with on-the-job computer use productivity gains or the result of unobserved heterogeneity? We examine this issue with three large cross-sectional surveys from Germany. First, we confirm that the estimated wage differentials associated with computer use in Germany are very similar to the U.S. differential. Second, using the same techniques we also measure large differentials for on-the-job use of calculators, telephones, pens or pencils, or for those who work while sitting down. Along with our reanalysis of the U.S. data these findings cast some doubt on the interpretation of the computer-use wage differential as reflecting productivity effects arising from the introduction of computers in the workplace.

Notes:

Print version record

June 1996.