Capital-Skill Complementarity and Inequality Over the Business Cycle

B-Tier
Journal: Review of Economic Dynamics
Year: 2004
Volume: 7
Issue: 3
Pages: 519-540

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

When capital-skill complementarity is present in the production process, changes in the skill premium are driven not only by changes in the ratio of unskilled- to skilled labor inputs (as they are in the case with Cobb-Douglas production), but also by changes in the capital-skill ratio. A simple regression analysis demonstrates that the capital-skill ratio has a positive and significant relation to the skill premium at business cycle frequencies as predicted by the capital-skill complementarity hypothesis. This finding motivates the construction of a stochastic dynamic general equilibrium model which allows for capital-skill complementarity in production. The model with capital-skill complementarity can account for the cyclical behavior of the skill premium and much of its volatility. The model without capital-skill complementarity cannot. These results, together with the available empirical evidence, suggest that capital-skill complementarity is an important determinant of wage inequality over the business cycle. (Copyright: Elsevier)

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:red:issued:v:7:y:2004:i:3:p:519-540
Journal Field
Macro
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-25