Technology-Skill Complementarity in Early Phases of Industrialisation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Franck, Raphael; Galor, Oded
• 署名单位: Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; Brown University; IZA Institute Labor Economics; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueab056
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 618-643
• 关键词: general-purpose technology; population; late-19th-century; INEQUALITY; TRANSITION; LABOR

摘要

This research explores the effect of early industrialisation on human capital formation. Exploiting exogenous regional variations in the adoption of steam engines across France, the study suggests that, in contrast to conventional wisdom that views early industrialisation as a predominantly deskilling process, the industrial revolution was conducive for human capital formation, generating wide-ranging gains in literacy rates and educational attainment. However, this increase in human capital formation was limited to basic literacy and numeracy and did not entail an increase in the share of pupils in middle and high schools in the population.