Embedding Skill Bias: Technology, Institutions, and Inequality in Wages and Benefits

The current era of globalisation has witnessed a rising premium paid to skilled workers resulting in increasing wage inequality in most OECD countries. This pattern differs from that observed during the past globalisation period (1880–1913), in which wage inequality decreased in most of the Old World countries. The present debate over wage inequality focuses on the implications of globalisation, technological change, the role of labour market institutions and education. Similar factors were at work in the past globalisation process. In order to disentangle the main factors that contribute to wage inequality, we calibrate a general equilibrium model for the UK economy in the past globalisation period. The results show that a trade shock and a skilled-biased technology shock increased wage inequality. However, education and emigration had a more significant impact and led to a decrease in wage inequality.

In this paper, the authors use a mixed methods study, including a survey and follow up interviews, to investigate the concerns that elementary educators in a school district in British Columbia have regarding the diffusion and integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in their teaching. The research participants identified four major categories of concerns: the philosophy and pedagogy of ICT integration; accessibility of ICT (including software, hardware and resource personnel); infrastructure technical support; and educational integration of ICT in their teaching. Based on the research findings, the authors propose appropriate intervention methods to address these concerns, including targeted professional development, technical and educational support, and sustained access to proper ICT equipment.

Information communication technology and manufacturing industry exports based on technology intensity in OECD and non-OECD countries

This paper studies changes in labour market inequality in the UK, with particular reference to what happened to wage inequality during the years of Labour government. The analysis uses micro-data through time to document what happened to overall wage inequality, as well as upper- and lower-tail wage inequality, relative to what went before. Simple supply and demand models of changing wage differentials by education group are used, so as to consider the drivers of relative demand shifts in favour of the more educated that underpin rising wage inequality. The changing role of labour market institutions is also discussed, and in particular the decline of unionization and the importance of the introduction of the national minimum wage in 1999 for the evolution of lower-tail wage inequality.

In many OECD countries, low productivity growth has coincided with rising wage inequality. Widening wage and productivity gaps between firms may have contributed to both developments. This chapter uses harmonised linked employer-employee data for 20 OECD countries to analyse the role of firms in wage inequality. The main finding is that, on average across countries, differences in average wages between firms explain about one-half of overall wage inequality. Two-thirds of between-firm wage inequality (i.e. about a third of overall wage inequality) reflect firms’ wage-setting practices or wage premia, i.e. the part of wages that is determined by the firm rather than the characteristics of its workers. The remaining third (i.e. a sixth of overall wage inequality) can be attributed to differences in workforce composition across firms. The contribution of differences in wage premia to wage inequality tends to be larger in countries with decentralised collective bargaining systems and lower levels of job mobility. Overall, these results suggest that firms play an important role in explaining wage inequality, as wages are to a notable extent determined by firm wage-setting practices rather than being exclusively by workers’ skills. This chapter has been written by an OECD team consisting of Chiara Criscuolo, Alexander Hijzen, and Cyrille Schwellnus with contributions of: Erling Barth (Institute for Social Research Oslo, NORWAY), Antoine Bertheau (University of Copenhagen, DENMARK), Wen-Hao Chen (Statcan, CANADA), Richard Fabling (independent, NEW ZEALAND), Priscilla Fialho (OECD, PORTUGAL), Katarzyna Grabska-Romagosa (Maastricht University, NETHERLANDS), Ryo Kambayashi (Hitotsubashi University, JAPAN), Valerie Lankester and Catalina Sandoval (Central Bank of Costa Rica, COSTA RICA), Michael Koelle (OECD), Timo Leidecker (OECD), Balazs Murakőzy (University of Liverpool, HUNGARY), Oskar Nordström Skans (Uppsala University, SWEDEN), Satu Nurmi (Statistics Finland/VATT, FINLAND), Vladimir Peciar (Ministry of Finance, SLOVAK REPUBLIC), Capucine Riom (LSE, FRANCE), Duncan Roth (IAB, GERMANY), Balazs Stadler (OECD), Richard Upward (University of Nottingham, UNITED KINGDOM) and Wouter Zwysen (ETUI, formerly OECD). For details on the data used in this chapter please see the standalone Data Annex and Disclaimer Annex.

Human development is one of the prominent factors that captures the essence of livelihoods in societies. In the current information era, the unprecedented reach and diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICT) to the remotest countries of the world make it a catalyst to achieve the desired target of human development. But ICT cannot be highly overrated, while the world acknowledges the benefits of incorporating ICT to solve societal issues, the world reports also indicate that nearly 70% of ICT designed projects for development are mere failures. The reason can be attributed to the societal norms and cultural aspects of the community toward the usage of technology. This study builds on the thought that the sustained usage of ICT is highly dependent on the various factors and facets of the society. Using national culture as a societal facet, the study demonstrates the necessity of congruence between ICT usage and national culture values to attain the desired human development. The results indicate that national culture dimensions of low-power distance, collectivism, femininity, short-term orientation, and restraint with ICT have significant influence on human development index. The study demonstrates the variations in using ICT for human development depending on cultures in different regions of the world. The study has implications for policymakers at national and international levels regarding treatment of ICT for human development.

The Banking sector is undoubtedly the prime catalyst for economic growth in any country. The key drivers of sea change in banking operations in India are integration of financial markets across the globe, explosion of information and communication technology and management of knowledge. The benefits of technology in Indian banks are quite well known. Banking in India started in the year 1786, with the General Bank of India being the first one. Reserve Bank of India came in 1935 and became the central banking authority in 1965. Prior to the 1990's, the diffusion of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Indian banking industry was mainly on operations, but from the mid 1990's, the use of technology is present in external environment i.e. in products or service offerings to customers. It is to be understood that IT is not yet a very comfortable choice for millions and consumer awareness is a major challenge in our country. State Bank of India, the premier and the largest commercial bank in the country with a market share of 17% for advances, and 17.98% for deposits is well positioned to capture growth in the dynamic Indian banking market, and is seen as a macro-economic proxy for the Indian economy. SBI is going through a momentous phase of its technology management. The Indian banks have nevertheless, withstood all the challenges at the national and international level and are becoming more adaptive to the changing environment. Technology management is essential for the banking sector in today's knowledge economy. The ultimate objective of using technology in banks should be increasing service quality and thereby enhancing customers' satisfaction. This paper is an attempt to understand technology management in banks with special reference to State Bank of India.

The Banking sector is undoubtedly the prime catalyst for economic growth in any country. The key drivers of sea change in banking operations in India are integration of financial markets across the globe, explosion of information and communication technology and management of knowledge. The benefits of technology in Indian banks are quite well known. Banking in India started in the year 1786, with the General Bank of India being the first one. Reserve Bank of India came in 1935 and became the central banking authority in 1965. Prior to the 1990's, the diffusion of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Indian banking industry was mainly on operations, but from the mid 1990's, the use of technology is present in external environment i.e. in products or service offerings to customers. It is to be understood that IT is not yet a very comfortable choice for millions and consumer awareness is a major challenge in our country. State Bank of India, the premier and the largest commercial bank in the country with a market share of 17% for advances, and 17.98% for deposits is well positioned to capture growth in the dynamic Indian banking market, and is seen as a macro-economic proxy for the Indian economy. SBI is going through a momentous phase of its technology management. The Indian banks have nevertheless, withstood all the challenges at the national and international level and are becoming more adaptive to the changing environment. Technology management is essential for the banking sector in today's knowledge economy. The ultimate objective of using technology in banks should be increasing service quality and thereby enhancing customers' satisfaction. This paper is an attempt to understand technology management in banks with special reference to State Bank of India.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Library and Information Science, in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2004.

We examine the relationship between the directly observable indicator of new technology, information and communication technology (ICT) investment intensity, and skill upgrading by analyzing changes in employment and wage structure of 25 Korean industrial sectors over the 1993–1999 period. The estimation results indicate the following implications. First, although ICT expenditure and investment have increased sharply since 1993, it appears that ICT investment has begun to be complementarily combined with skilled labor only since 1996. Second, our results support the ‘limited substitution hypothesis’. ICT has substituted low-skilled non-production workers, whereas the increased demand for high-skilled workers is driven by ICT diffusion in the second sub-period. This asymmetric trend between high-skilled and low-skilled non-production workers in Korea reveals significant differences in comparison with the experiences of other OECD countries. Third, the existence of substitutability between ICT diffusion and low-skilled non-production workers in Korea may cast doubt on the appropriateness of the non-production workers' category, a category regarded as a proxy variable of high-skilled workers in most previous studies.

The decline of labour market institutions and the rise in wage inequality in Britain

This study assesses the relation between the diffusion of information and communications technology (ICT) and the environmentally sustainable development (SusD). The generalized method of moments (GMM) is used for analyzing the dissemination of ICT in South Asian countries, during the 2005–2015 time period. A panel cointegration test examined five variables pertinent to ICT diffusion. Said variables coalesce, providing conclusive information about the relation between the ICT and SusD constructs. The study’s empirical results affirm the positive relation between ICT and environmentally sustainable development, with minor disparities among the pertinent variables in the long term. These findings indicate that ICT and SusD are proportional to each other unless other considerations drastically change, such as the environment, culture, human behavior and education. Lastly, in the context of future policy design and research, ICT circumstances can be seen as significantly shifting an entire region’s sustainable development and economic growth.

This article seeks to make a contribution to the study of information and knowledge in Latin America, with special attention to the use and diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICT) in Argentine manufacturing. It addresses two main aspects of this subject: the real extent of the use and diffusion of ICT, and its links with the overall performance of enterprises (innovation capacity, organization of work and competitiveness). It studies and summarizes the use and diffusion of those technologies in Argentine industry in order to i) present an empirical map of their use and diffusion in the Argentine manufacturing sector and ii) identify the linkages of such diffusion with the endogenous capabilities of the enterprises. It maintains that the incorporation and use of those technologies cannot be analyzed without taking into consideration the degree of development of endogenous capabilities achieved by the firms in question. On the basis of a survey of 246 Argentine industrial enterprises, it draws some conclusions on the way Argentine enterprises use ICT. not only in order to improve what they are already doing, but also to generate new knowledge.

As indicated in the 2009 World Economic Forum Report, Sub-Saharan nations seriously lag behind the rest of the world by a significant margin in information and communication technology (ICT) diffusion. In this paper, we present evidences to show that ICT as use in other parts of the world cannot deliver the expected benefits in Sub-Sahara nations simply because the ICT design and usage assumptions do not hold in these African nations. We postulate that creative modifications that take into account the conditions on ground in these nations are the prerequisites for successful adoption of ICT. In order to identify the inhibiting factors from the indigenes' perspectives, we asked experienced Africans to identify the factors which were later ranked using Delphi method. Forty-eight participants ranked 23 ICT inhibiting factors. The top 12 inhibitors are analyzed in details and are grouped into four categories namely: infrastructure factors (#s 1, 11), economic factors (#2, 3, 7), adaptation factors (#s 4, 5, 6), and environment factors (#s 8, 9, 10, 12).

This study investigates the impacts of institutional quality, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) diffusion, and trade openness on green growth in 21 countries from 2000 to 2019, using FMOLS, DOLS, quantile regression, and Dumitrescu–Hurlin causality tests. Results show that institutional quality consistently and significantly fosters green growth, while ICT diffusion and trade openness impose adverse effects. Efficiency gains from ICT trigger a rebound effect, thus undermining sustainability. Quantile regressions indicate that institutional quality benefits economies at lower quantiles but diminishes at higher ones; ICT negatively affects lower and median quantiles; and trade openness is largely detrimental except at the lowest quantile. Causality analysis reveals unidirectional effects from institutional quality and trade openness to green growth, while ICT and green growth share bidirectional feedback. Overall, policy solutions should strengthen governance, manage ICT rebound effects, and integrate environmental objectives into trade.