Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/259801 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
ZEW Discussion Papers No. 22-014
Publisher: 
ZEW - Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung, Mannheim
Abstract: 
This paper analyzes whether technological change improves equality of labor market opportunities by decreasing returns to parental background. We find that in Germany during the 1990s, computerization improved the access to technologyadopting occupations for workers with low-educated parents, and reduced their wage penalty within these occupations. We also show that this significantly contributed to a decline in the overall wage penalty experienced by workers from disadvantaged parental backgrounds over this time period. Competing mechanisms, such as skill-specific labor supply shocks and skill- upgrading, do not explain these findings.
Subjects: 
skill-biased technical change
wage inequality
equality of opportunity
intergenerational persistence
parental background
class ceiling
JEL: 
J21
J23
J24
J31
J62
O33
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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