Journal of Political Economy Vol. 118 No. 5 2010
Should the Personal Computer Be Considered a Technological Revolution? Evidence from U.S. Metropolitan Areas
Abstract
The introduction and diffusion of personal computers are widely viewed as a technological revolution. Using U.S. metropolitan area–level panel data, this paper asks whether links between PC adoption, educational attainment, and the return to skill conform to a model of technological revolutions in which the speed and extent of adoption are endogenous. The model implies that cities will adjust differently to the arrival of a more skill-intensive means of production, with the returns to skill increasing most where skill is abundant and its return is low. We show that the cross-city data fit many of the predictions of the model during the period 1980–2000, the PC diffusion era.
- DOI
- 10.1086/658371
- Volume
- 118
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 988-1036
- Language
- en
- Sources
- bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref