Should the Personal Computer Be Considered a Technological Revolution? Evidence from U.S. Metropolitan Areas

Authors:
  • PBPaul Beaudry
    Paul Beaudry
  • MDMark Doms
    Mark Doms
  • ELEthan Lewis
    Ethan Lewis
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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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