Productivity, Inequality, and the Digital Economy

by Nathalie Greenan, Yannick L'Horty and Jacques Mairesse (Eds.)

• ISBN13: 9780262072335
• ISBN10: 0262072335
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-07-30
• Publisher: Mit Pr

Summary

The widespread diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICT) has had controversial, seemingly paradoxical consequences. ICT are viewed as driving growth and employment in the United States, while contributing to European unemployment and the so-called Eurosclerosis. At the same time, both the United States and Europe have seen increased wage inequalities between skilled and unskilled workers. This book explores the computer's puzzling effects on the economy, at both the micro and macro levels. The contributions include data from field work, small samples of firms, and national surveys of management practice; econometric studies; and macroeconomic theoretical analysis.

Table of Contents

Contributors
Foreword
Introduction: The Puzzling Relations between the Computer and the Economy	p. 1
The Productivity Puzzle	p. 17
The Mismeasurement Hypothesis and the Productivity Slowdown: The Evidence	p. 19
Comments	p. 47
Information Technology, Organizational Transformation, and Business Performance	p. 55
Comments	p. 93
Innovation and Employment: A Critical Survey	p. 101
Comments	p. 133
The Inequality Puzzle	p. 139
Technological Bias and Employment Inequality: A Macroeconomic Perspective	p. 141
Comments	p. 171
Technical Change and the Structure of Employment and Wages: A Survey of the Microeconometric Evidence	p. 175
Comments	p. 225
By What Means Does Information Technology Affect Employment and Wages?	p. 229
Comments	p. 269
Conclusion: Computers, Productivity, and Wages; Reflections on the Economics of the Information Age	p. 279
Index	p. 299
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