Core claim
Katz and Murphy (1992) argued the college premium rose despite more graduates because skill demand grew faster. Berman and colleagues (1994) traced this to within-industry technical change, and Autor and colleagues (1998) linked it to computerisation.
Education and technology
Goldin and Katz (2008) framed inequality as a race between education and technology, linking to human capital theory. Acemoglu (2002) argued abundant skills direct technology to be skill-biased.
Critiques
Card and DiNardo (2002) noted inequality stalled while computers spread. Acemoglu and Autor (2011) proposed a task-based model explaining job polarisation.
FAQ
- What is SBTC in simple terms?
- New technology favours highly educated workers, widening pay gaps.
- How does it relate to job polarisation?
- Polarisation refines SBTC: technology replaces routine tasks, hollowing out middle jobs.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Katz, L. F., & Murphy, K. M. (1992). Changes in relative wages, 1963–1987: Supply and demand factors. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(1), 35–78. Classic supply-demand account.
- Berman, E., Bound, J., & Griliches, Z. (1994). Changes in the demand for skilled labor within U.S. manufacturing: Evidence from the Annual Survey of Manufactures. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 109(2), 367–397. Within-industry skill upgrading.
- Autor, D. H., Katz, L. F., & Krueger, A. B. (1998). Computing inequality: Have computers changed the labor market? The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 113(4), 1169–1213. Computers and skill demand.
- Acemoglu, D. (2002). Technical change, inequality, and the labor market. Journal of Economic Literature, 40(1), 7–72. Theory of directed technical change.
- Card, D., & DiNardo, J. E. (2002). Skill-biased technological change and rising wage inequality: Some problems and puzzles. Journal of Labor Economics, 20(4), 733–783. A leading critique.
- Goldin, C., & Katz, L. F. (2008). The race between education and technology. Harvard University Press. Education versus technology over a century.
- Acemoglu, D., & Autor, D. (2011). Skills, tasks and technologies: Implications for employment and earnings. In O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (Eds.), Handbook of labor economics (Vol. 4B, pp. 1043–1171). Elsevier. The task-based extension.