Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T13:06:02.285Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

SOCIAL STRATIFICATION, CAPITAL–SKILL COMPLEMENTARITY, AND THE NONMONOTONIC EVOLUTION OF THE EDUCATION PREMIUM

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2004

YISHAY D. MAOZ
Affiliation:
University of Haifa
OMER MOAV
Affiliation:
Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Abstract

This paper presents a model that generates a nonmonotonic evolution of the return to education. The model highlights the role played by socioeconomic stratification in the joint determination of the supply of educated labor and the supply of physical capital. The recent theoretical literature attributes the increased education premium of the last decades to skill-biased technological progress. In contrast, our explanation is based on capital–skill complementarity and endogenous accumulation of physical and human capital in an environment characterized by credit constraints.

Type
ARTICLES
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acemoglu D. 1998 Why do new technologies complement skills? Directed technical change and wage inequality. Quarterly Journal of Economics 113, 1055 1089.Google Scholar
Altonji J.G., F. Hayashi & L.J. Kotlikoff 1997 Parental altruism and inter vivos transfers: Theory and evidence. Journal of Political Economy 105, 1121 1166.Google Scholar
Autor D.H., L.F. Katz & A.B. Krueger 1998 Computing inequality: Have computers changed the labor market? Quarterly Journal of Economics 113, 1169 1213.Google Scholar
Baldwin R.E. & G.G. Cain 1997 Shifts in the U.S. Relative Wages: The Role of Trade, Technology and Factor Endowments. NBER working paper 5934.
Becker G.S. & N. Tomes 1986 Human capital and the rise and fall of families. Journal of Labor Economics 4, S1S39.Google Scholar
Benabou R. 1996a Heterogeneity, stratification, and growth: Macroeconomic implications of community structure and school finance. American Economic Review 86, 584 609.Google Scholar
Benabou R. 1996b Equity and efficiency in human capital investment: The local connection. Review of Economic Studies 63, 237 264.Google Scholar
Caselli F. 1999 Technological revolutions. American Economic Review 89, 78102.Google Scholar
Eicher T.S. & C. Garcia-Penalosa 2001 Inequality and growth: The dual role of human capital in development. Journal of Development Economics 66, 173 197.Google Scholar
Galor O. & O. Moav 2000 Ability-biased technological transition, wage inequality, and economic growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics 115, 469 497.Google Scholar
Galor O. & D. Tsiddon 1997 Technological progress, mobility, and economic growth. American Economic Review 87, 363 382.Google Scholar
Galor O. & J. Zeira 1993 Income distribution and macroeconomics. Review of Economic Studies 60, 35 52.Google Scholar
Goldin C. & L.F. Katz 1998 The origins of technology–skill complementarity. Quarterly Journal of Economics 113, 693 732.Google Scholar
Goldin C. & L.F. Katz 2000 Education and income in the early twentieth century: Evidence from the prairies. Journal of Economic History 60, 782 818.Google Scholar
Gottschalk P. 1997 Inequality, income growth and mobility: The basic facts. Journal of Economic Perspectives 11, 21 40.Google Scholar
Gould E.D. 2002 Rising wage inequality, comparative advantage, and the growing importance of general skills in the United States. Journal of Labor Economics 20, 105 147.Google Scholar
Gould E.D., O. Moav & B.E. Weinberg 2001 Precautionary demand for education, inequality and technological progress. Journal of Economic Growth 6, 285 315.Google Scholar
Griliches Z. 1969 Capital–skill complementarity. Review of Economics and Statistics 51, 465 468.Google Scholar
Hassler J. & J. Rodriguez Mora 2000 Intelligence, social mobility, and growth. American Economic Review 90, 888 908.Google Scholar
Juhn C., K.M. Murphy & B. Pierce 1993 Wage inequality and the rise in returns to skill. Journal of Political Economy 101, 410442.Google Scholar
Katz L.F. & K.M. Murphy 1992 Changes in relative wages 1963-87: Supply and demand factors. Quarterly Journal of Economics 107, 35 78.Google Scholar
Katz L.F., G.W. Loveman & D.G. Blanchflower 1995 A comparison of changes in the structure of wages in four OECD countries. In R.B. Freeman & L.F. Katz (eds.), Differences and Changes in Wage Structure, pp. 25 65. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Krueger A.B. 1993 How computers have changed the wage structure: Evidence from microdata 1984–1989. Quarterly Journal of Economics 108, 33 60.Google Scholar
Krusell P., L.E. Ohanian, J.-V. Rios-Rull & G.L. Violante 2000 Capital-skill complementarity and inequality: A macroeconomic analysis. Econometrica 68, 1029 1053.Google Scholar
Loury G.C. 1981 Intergenerational transfers and the distribution of earnings. Econometrica 49, 843 867.Google Scholar
Maoz Y.D. & O. Moav 1999 Intergenerational mobility and the process of development. Economic Journal 109, 677 697.Google Scholar
Moav O. 2002 Income distribution and macroeconomics: The persistence of inequality in a convex technology framework. Economics Letters 75, 187 192.Google Scholar
Psacharopoulos G. & H.A. Patrinos 2002 Returns to Investment in Education: A Further Update. World Bank working paper 2881.Google Scholar
Stokey N.L. 1996 Free trade, factor returns, and factor accumulation. Journal of Economic Growth 1, 421 448.Google Scholar
Wilhelm M.O. 1996 Bequest behavior and the effect of heirs' earnings: Testing the altruistic model of bequests. American Economic Review 86, 874 892.Google Scholar