Replication data for: Changes in Between-Group Inequality: Computers, Occupations, and International Trade

Summary:  View help for Summary We provide a unifying framework to quantify the impact of several determinants of changes in US between-group inequality. We use an assignment framework with many labor groups, equipment types, and occupations in which changes in inequality are driven by changes in workforce composition, occupation demand, computerization, and labor productivity. We parameterize the model using direct measures of computer usage within labor group-occupation pairs and quantify the impact of each shock for various dimensions of between-group inequality between 1984 and 2003. We find, for example, that computerization and shifts in occupation demand jointly account for roughly 80 percent of the rise in the skill premium, with computerization alone accounting for roughly 60 percent. In an open-economy extension of the model, we show how computerization and changes in occupation demand can be caused by changes in the extent of international trade and perform counterfactual exercises to quantify these effects.

JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      D63 Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
      J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
      J22 Time Allocation and Labor Supply
      J23 Labor Demand
      J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
      J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials