TY  - JOUR
AU  - Berman,Eli
TI  - Does Factor-Biased Technological Change Stifle International Covergence? Evidence from Manufacturing
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 7964
PY  - 2000
Y2  - October 2000
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7964
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7964.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Eli Berman
Department of Economics, 508
University of California, San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA  92093
Tel: 858/534-2858
Fax: 858/534-7040
E-Mail: elib@ucsd.edu
AB  - Factor-biased technological change implies divergent productivity growth across countries with different amounts of skill and capital per worker. I estimate the extent of factor bias within industries and countries using a 19-country panel of manufacturing data covering the 1980s. Estimates using both production functions and total factor productivity functions show that technological change is strongly biased against less-skilled workers and toward both skilled workers and capital. An industry or country with twice the capital and skill per less-skilled worker enjoys 1.4%-1.8% faster total factor productivity growth annually due to the effects of factor-bias.  These results are consistent with the empirical literature on skill-biased technological change. They may well explain why  conditional convergence' of per capita income across countries is so slow.
ER  -