Technical change and the demand for skills during the second industrial revolution: Evidence from the merchant marine, 1891-1912

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chin, Aimee; Juhn, Chinhui; Thompson, Peter
• 署名单位: University of Houston System; University of Houston; State University System of Florida; Florida International University
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest.88.3.572
• 发表日期: 2006-08
• 页码: 572-578
• 关键词: general-purpose technology; wage inequality; labor-market; GROWTH; steam

摘要

Using a large, individual-level wage data set, we examine the impact of a major technological innovation-the steam engine-on the demand for skills in the merchant shipping industry. We find that the technical change created a new demand for engineers, a skilled occupation. It had a deskilling effect on production work-moderately skilled able-bodied seamen were replaced by unskilled engine room operatives. On the other hand, able-bodied seamen, carpenters, and mates employed on steam vessels earned a premium relative to their counterparts on sail vessels, and this appears partly related to skill.