Organization and inequality in a knowledge economy

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Garicano, Luis; Rossi-Hansberg, Esteban
• 署名单位: University of Chicago; Princeton University
• 刊物名称: QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-5533
• DOI: 10.1162/qjec.121.4.1383
• 发表日期: 2006
• 页码: 1383-1435
• 关键词: wage; hierarchies; TECHNOLOGY; assignment; computers; skills

摘要

We present an equilibrium theory of the organization of work in an economy where knowledge is an essential input in production and agents are heterogeneous in skill. Agents organize production by matching with others in knowledge hierarchies designed to use and communicate their knowledge efficiently. Relative to autarky, organization leads to larger cross-sectional differences in knowledge and wages: low skill workers learn and earn relatively less. We show that improvements in the technology to acquire knowledge lead to opposite implications on wage inequality and organization than reductions in communication costs.