@techreport{Chin2004Technical,
abstract = {Using a large, individual-level wage data set, we examine the impact of a major technological
innovation \textendash{} the steam engine \textendash{} on skill demand and the wage structure in the merchant
shipping industry. We find that the technical change created a new demand for skilled
workers, the engineers, while destroying demand for workers with skills relevant only to sail.
It had a deskilling effect on production work \textendash{} able-bodied seamen (essentially, artisans)
were replaced by unskilled engine room operatives. On the other hand, mates and ablebodied
seamen employed on steam earned a premium relative to their counterparts on sail. A
wholesale switch from sail to steam would increase the 90/10 wage ratio by 40%, with most
of the rise in inequality coming from the creation of the engineer occupation.},
author = {Aimee Chin and Chinhui Juhn and Peter Thompson},
copyright = {http://www.econstor.eu/dspace/Nutzungsbedingungen},
keywords = {H52; J62; I21; 330; wage inequality; skill premium; skill-biased technical change; Technischer Fortschritt; Lohnstruktur; Industrialisierung; Schifffahrt; Kanada: Atlantikk\"{u}ste},
language = {eng},
number = {1285},
title = {Technical Change and the Wage Structure During the Second Industrial Revolution : Evidence from the Merchant Marine, 1865-1912},
type = {IZA Discussion paper series},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10419/20551},
year = {2004}
}
