TY  - JOUR
AU  - Autor,David H.
AU  - Levy,Frank
AU  - Murnane,Richard
TI  - Upstairs, Downstairs: Computer-Skill Complementarity and Computer-Labor Substitution on Two Floors of a Large Bank
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 7890
PY  - 2000
Y2  - September 2000
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7890
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7890.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
David Autor
Department of Economics
MIT, E52-371
50 Memorial Drive
Cambridge, MA 02142-1347
Tel: 617/258-7698
Fax: 617/253-1330
E-Mail: dautor@mit.edu

Frank Levy
Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning
Building 9-523
MIT
Cambridge, MA 02139
E-Mail: flevy@mit.edu

Richard Murnane
Graduate School of Education
Harvard University
6 Appian Way - Gutman 469
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/496-4820
Fax: 617/496-3095
E-Mail: richard_murnane@harvard.edu
AB  - We describe how a single technological innovation, the introduction of image processing of checks, led to distinctly different changes in the structure of jobs in two departments of a large bank overseen by one group of managers. In the downstairs deposit processing department, image processing led to the substitution of computers for high school educated labor in accomplishing core tasks and in greater specialization in the jobs that remained. In the upstairs exceptions processing department, image processing led to the integration of tasks, with an associated increase in the demand for particular skills. The case illustrates the interdependence of technological change and organizational change. It suggests that  seeing the whole picture' and associated conceptual and problem-solving skills are made more valuable by information technologies. Finally, it underscores that the short-term consequences of technological changes may depend importantly on regulatory forces.
ER  -