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About the Author(s)

Acemoglu

Daron Acemoglu is a Research Associate in the NBER's Programs in Labor Studies and Economic Fluctuations and Growth and a Professor of Economics at MIT. He received a B.A. in economics at the University of York in 1989 and a Ph.D. in economics at the London School of Economics in 1992. Acemoglu joined the MIT faculty as an Assistant Professor of Economics in 1993, was promoted to Pentti Kouri Associate Professor in 1997, and to Professor of Economics in 2000.

His research covers a wide range of areas, including economic development, human capital theory, growth theory, search theory, and political economy. He is also editor of the Review of Economics and Statistics, and is associate editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Journal of Economic Growth. His work has been published in a number of leading scholarly journals, including the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, and the Review of Economic Studies.

Endnotes

1. See L. F. Katz and D. H. Autor, "Changes in the Wage Structure and Earnings Inequality," in The Handbook of Labor Economics, Vol. 3, O. Ashenfelter and D. Card,eds., Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2000; or P. Gottschalk, "Inequality in Income, Growth and Mobility: The Basic Facts," Journal of Economic Perspectives, 11 (1997) pp. 21-40, for recent surveys of the changes in the U.S. wage structure; and P.Gottschalk and M. Joyce,"Cross-National Differences in the Rise in Earnings Inequality: Market and Institutional Factors," Review of Economics and Statistics, 80 (1998), pp. 489-502; R. B. Freeman and L. F. Katz, "Introduction and Summary," in R. B. Freeman and L. F. Katz, eds.,Differences and Changes in Wage Structures, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,1995, pp. 1-22, for cross-country trends.   Go to ⤴︎
2. See, for example, D. H. Autor, A. B. Krueger, and L. F. Katz, "Computing Inequality:Have Computers Changed the Labor Market?" NBER Working Paper 5956, March1997, and in Quarterly Journal of Economics, 113 (1998), pp. 1169-214; E. Berman, J.Bound, and S. Machin, "Implications of Skill-Biased Technological Change:International Evidence," NBER Working Paper 6166, September 1997, and in Quarterly Journal of Economics, 113 (1998), pp. 1245-80; F. Caselli, "Technological Revolutions," American Economic Review, 87 (1999), pp. 78-102; O. Galor and O.Maov, "Ability Biased Technological Transition, Wage Inequality and Economic Growth," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 115 (2000), pp. 469-98; J. Greenwood and M.Yorukoglu, "1974," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, 46 (1997),pp. 49-95; A. B. Krueger, "How Computers Have Changed the Wag e Structure: Evidence from Microdata, 1984-1989," NBER Working Paper 858, October 1991, and in Quarterly Journal of Economics, 110 (1993), pp. 33-60. See D. Card and J. E. DiNardo,"Skill-Biased Technological Change and Rising Wage Inequality: Some Problems and Puzzles," NBER Working Paper 8769, February 2002, for the case against the role of technology in the changes in the U.S. wage structure. Go to ⤴︎
3. Quoted in H. J. Habakkuk, American and British Technology in the 19th Century, London: Cambridge University Press, 1962. Go to ⤴︎
4. See, for example, D. H. Autor, A. B. Krueger, and L. F. Katz, "Computing Inequality: Have Computers Changed the Labor Market?" And A. P. Bartel, C. Ichniowski, and K.L. Shaw, "New Technology, Human Resource Practices and Skill Requirements, "Carnegie-Mellon mimeo, 2002. Go to ⤴︎
5. See D. Acemoglu, "Technical Change, Inequality and the Labor Market," NBER Working Paper 7800, July 2000, and in Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 40(2002), pp. 7-72, for a discussion of the case for and against an acceleration in skill bias. Go to ⤴︎
6. See P. David, Technical Choice, Innovation and Economic Growth: Essays on American and British Experience in the 19th Century, London:Cambridge University Press, 1975; H. J. Habakkuk, American and British Technology in the 19th Century; and especially J. Schmookler, Invention and Economic Growth, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966. For early historical discussions of endogenous technology, see P. Aghion and P. Howitt, Endogenous Growth Theory, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998;G. Grossman and E. Helpman, Innovation and Growth in the Global Economy, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1991; and P. M. Romer, "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, 87 (1990), pp. 71-102, for analyses of endogenous aggregate technological change. Go to ⤴︎
7. For the basic idea and models of directed technical change, see D. Acemoglu, "Why Do New Technologies Complement Skills? Directed Technical Change and Wage Inequality," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 113 (1998), pp. 1055-90; and D. Acemoglu, "Directed Technical Change," NBER Working Paper 8287, May 2001, and in Review of Economic Studies, 69 (2002), pp. 781-810. Go to ⤴︎
8. D. Acemoglu, "Why Do New Technologies Complement Skills? Directed Technical Change and Wage Inequality." Go to ⤴︎
9. See D. Acemoglu, "Technical Change, Inequality and the Labor Market," and D.Acemoglu, "Directed Technical Change," for more details on this argument. Go to ⤴︎
10. See D. Acemoglu, "Patterns of Skill Premia," NBER Working Paper 7018, March1999, forthcoming in Review of Economic Studies. See A. Wood, North-South Trade, Employment and Inequality: Changing Fortunes in a Skill Driven World, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994, for the argument that trade with the LDCs may lead to defensive innovations. For more recent models of trade affecting inequality by its impact on technology, see M. Thoenig and T. Verdier, "Trade Induced Technical Bias and Wage Inequalities: A Theory of Defensive Innovations," Delta mimeo, 2002, forthcoming in American Economic Review, and P. Epifani and G. Gancia, "The Skill Bias of World Trade," MIT mimeo, 2002. Go to ⤴︎
11. See D. H. Autor, F. Levy, and R. J. Murnane, "The Skill Content of Recent Technological Change: An Empirical Exploration," NBER Working Paper 8337,June 2001; P. Cappelli and S. Wilk, "Understanding Selection Processes: Organization Determinants and Performance Outcomes," Wharton School mimeo, 1997; and R. J.Murnane and F. Levy, Teaching the Basic New Skills, NY: The Free Press, 1996, for changes in the organization of production and the recruitment process; and T. F.Bresnahan, E. Brynjolfsson, and L. M. Hitt, "Information Technology, Workplace Organization, and the Demand for Skilled Labor: Firm-level Evidence," NBER Working Paper 7136, May 1999, and in Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117 (2002), pp. 339-76; and E. Caroli and J. van Reenen, "Skill-Biased Organizational Change: Evidence from a Panel of British and French Establishments," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 116 (2002), pp. 1449-92, for the effect of firm organization on the demand for skills. Go to ⤴︎
12. See D. Acemoglu, "Changes in Unemployment and Wage Inequality: An Alternative Theory and Some Evidence," NBER Working Paper 6658, July 1998, and in American Economic Review, 89 (1999), pp. 1259-78; and also M. Kremer and E. Maskin,"Segregation by Skill and the Rise in Inequality," Harvard mimeo, 1999. Go to ⤴︎
13. See D. Acemoglu, "Changes in Unemployment and Wage Inequality: An Alternative Theory and Some Evidence," for a summary of this evidence. Go to ⤴︎
14. See D. Card, "The Effect of Unions on the Structure of Wages: A Longitudinal Analysis," Econometrica, 64 (1996), pp. 957-79; J. E. DiNardo, N. M. Fortin, and T.Lemieux, "Labor Market Institutions, and the Distribution of Wages, 1973-1992: A Semiparametric Approach," NBER Working Paper 5093, April 1995, and in Econometrica, 64 (1995), pp. 1001-44; R. B. Freeman, "How Much Has De-unionization Contributed to the Rise of Male Earnings Inequality?" NBER Working Paper 3826,August 1991; and D. S. Lee, "Wage Inequality in the U. S. During the 1980s: Rising Dispersion or Falling Minimum Wage?" Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114 (1999),pp. 941-1024, for the effect of the minimum wage and deunionization on inequality. Go to ⤴︎
15. See E. Saez and T. Piketty, "Income Inequality in the United States: 1913-1998,"NBER Working Paper 8467, September 2001, forthcoming in Quarterly Journal of Economics, on the rise in inequality at the top of the U.S. income distribution, and a discussion of changing social norms. Go to ⤴︎
16. See D. Acemoglu, P. Aghion, and G.Violante, "Technical Change, Deunionization, and Inequality," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series On Public Policy, 2002, on the effect of inequality on deunionization; and J. Hassler, S. Mora, K. Storlesseten, and F. Zilibotti,"Survival of the Welfare State," Stockholm mimeo, 2002, forthcoming in American Economic Review; and R. Benabou, "Human Capital, Technical Change, and the Welfare State," Princeton mimeo, 2002, forthcoming in European Economic Review.   Go to ⤴︎
17. D. Acemoglu, "Cross-country Inequality Trends," NBER Working Paper 8832,March 2002, forthcoming in Economic Journal. Go to ⤴︎

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