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Title: Should the Personal Computer Be Considered a Technological Revolution? Evidence from US Metropolitan Areas

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2010

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Abstract: The introduction and diffusion of personal computers are widely viewed as a technological revolution. Using U. S. metropolitan area-level panel data, this paper asks whether links between PC adoption, educational attainment, and the return to skill conform to a model of technological revolutions in which the speed and extent of adoption are endogenous. The model implies that cities will adjust differently to the arrival of a more skill-intensive means of production, with the returns to skill increasing most where skill is abundant and its return is low. We show that the cross-city data fit many of the predictions of the model during the period 1980-2000, the PC diffusion era.

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Authors: Doms, Mark; Beaudry, Paul; Lewis, Ethan

Periodical (Full): Journal of Political Economy

Issue: 5

Volume: 118

Pages: 988-1036

Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS CPS

Topics: Other

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