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Title: Technology Shocks, New Work and Urban Development: The Shifting Fortunes of U.S. Cities

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2015

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Abstract: In this paper, we show how differential rates of adaptation to an economy-wide technology shock the Computer Revolution of the 1980shave altered patterns in urban development across U.S. cities. Specifically, we document that the diffusion of computer technologies has contributed to a reversal in the task content of new occupational titles: while new types of work were still associated with routine tasks in the 1970s, additions of new work have mainly appeared in cognitive occupations and industries since 1980. Cities that historically specialized in cognitive work benefited differentially by shifting workers into new occupations, experiencing simultaneous relative increases in population, human capital and wages, subsequent to the Computer Revolution. Our results suggest that the recent divergence of U.S. cities can partly be explained by the complementarity of new technologies and historical patterns of task specialization.

Url: http://www.renevanmaarsseveen.nl/wp-content/uploads/overig/Technology-Shocks (Thor Berge).pdf

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Authors: Berger, Thor; Frey, Carl B

Publisher: Lund University

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Other

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