DID IRELAND BECOME MORE UNEQUAL DURING THE BOOM? ESRI Research Bulletin 2009/2/4

McGuinness, Seamus and McGinnity, Frances and O’Connell, Philip (2009) DID IRELAND BECOME MORE UNEQUAL DURING THE BOOM? ESRI Research Bulletin 2009/2/4. UNSPECIFIED.

PDF - Published Version Download (80Kb)

Abstract

The Irish economy almost doubled in size between 1990 and 2000 in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), leading to a rapid convergence of GDP per capita with the EU average, and dramatic growth in employment and incomes. Economists writing about the impact of technology on the labour market in recent years have tended to emphasise the idea that as an economy grows, technology is biased in favour of skilled workers and against unskilled workers (This is termed skill-biased technical change, SBTC.) A large body of evidence documents a striking correlation between the adoption of computer-based technologies and the increased use of university-educated labour. The idea of SBTC has primarily been used to explain rising wage inequality in, for example, the UK and the US. Has rapid growth in Ireland led to a similar rise in wage inequality, favouring higher educated workers – and if not, what factors have tended to offset the influence of skill-biased technological change? These issues have been investigated by Seamus McGuinness, Frances McGinnity and Philip O’Connell in a recent paper.† They draw on data from the Living in Ireland Survey for 1994, 1997 and 2001 to examine the consequences of the boom for wage dispersion and returns to education in Ireland.

Actions (login required)