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Thor Berger . Photo

Thor Berger

Associate senior lecturer

Thor Berger . Photo

Did the Computer Revolution shift the fortunes of U.S. cities? Technology shocks and the geography of new jobs

Author

  • Thor Berger
  • Carl Benedikt Frey

Summary, in English

This paper shows how the Computer Revolution of the 1980s shifted the economic trajectories of U.S. cities. Examining the emergence of new occupational titles in official census classifications, we document a sharp reversal in the skill content of new jobs. While technological change was biased towards routine skills throughout the 1970s, new job titles mainly appeared in occupations and industries that required abstract skills after 1980. This reversal is also reflected in the geography of new jobs. Following the Computer Revolution, the creation of new jobs shifted towards cities with endowments of analytical and interactive skills. Our results suggest that the recent divergence of U.S. cities can in part be explained by the complementarities between new technologies and skill endowments.

Department/s

  • Centre for Economic Demography
  • Department of Economic History

Publishing year

2016

Language

English

Pages

38-45

Publication/Series

Regional Science and Urban Economics

Volume

57

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Business Administration

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0166-0462