Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/267426 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 15689
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
In an environment of accelerating technological change and increasing digitalization, firms need to adopt new technologies faster than ever before to stay competitive. This paper examines whether updates of education curricula help to bring new technologies faster into firms' workplaces. We study technology changes and curriculum updates from an early wave of digitalization (i.e., computernumerically controlled machinery, computer-aided design, and desktop publishing software). We take a text-as-data approach and tap into two novel data sources to measure change in educational content and the use of technology at the workplace: first, vocational education curricula and, second, firms' job advertisements. To examine the causal effects of adding new technology skills to curricula on the diffusion of these technologies in firms' workplaces (measured by job advertisements), we use an event study design. Our results show that curriculum updates substantially shorten the time it takes for new technologies to arrive in firms' workplaces, especially for mainstream firms.
Subjects: 
technological change
digitalization
curricula updates
technology diffusion
text-as-data
JEL: 
O33
I25
J23
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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