기사
The World Technology Frontier /
- 개인저자
- Caselli, Francesco ;, Coleman, Wilbur John
- 수록페이지
- 499-522 p.
- 발행일자
- 2006.06.27
- 출판사
- American Economic Association
초록
[영문]We study cross-country differences in the aggregate production function when skilled and unskilled labor are imperfect substitutes. We find that there is a skill bias in cross-country technology differences. Higher-income countries use skilled labor more efficiently than lower-income countries, while they use unskilled labor relatively and, possibly, absolutely less efficiently. We also propose a simple explanation for our findings: rich countries, which are skilled-labor abundant, choose technologies that are best suited to skilled workers; poor countries, which are unskilled-labor abundant, choose technologies more appropriate to unskilled workers. We discuss alternative explanations, such as capital-skill complementarity and differences in schooling quality.