Skill-Biased Technological Change
Updated 2026-08-08
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Skill-biased technological change is the hypothesis that new technology complements skilled workers while substituting for routine tasks, raising the relative demand for skill and widening wage differentials. The pattern has been documented in the widening college wage premium. Key qualification: the effect concerns relative demand and can be offset by expanding education.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Trace the task: ask whether the technology substitutes for a task or complements the person doing it. - Check the distribution: examine who gains and who loses rather than only the average effect. - Plan the supply: invest in training so that skill supply keeps pace with demand.
Anchor fast decisions
Technology raises the productivity of workers whose tasks it complements, increasing demand for them, while replacing tasks that follow explicit rules. Because the replaced tasks are concentrated among less-skilled workers, relative demand shifts upward along the skill distribution. Wages follow relative demand unless the supply of skilled workers grows fast enough to offset it.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_income_inequality_in_the_United_Statesverified
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