Paper · 2008 · advanced level
Trends in U.S. Wage Inequality: Revising the Revisionists
David H. Autor, Lawrence F. Katz, Melissa S. Kearney
- Venue
- Review of Economics and Statistics, 90(2), 300–323
- Link
- publisher / source page
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In plain language
Defends the skill-based explanation of wage inequality but also documents 'polarization' — growth at the top and bottom of the wage distribution, with the middle hollowing out.
Technical summary
Refines the SBTC framework against critics using updated CPS data; documents wage polarization not fully explained by a one-dimensional skill model.
Key takeaways
- Polarization finding complicates the simple SBTC story and motivated later task-based models of the labor market.
Themes
Related works
- Changes in Relative Wages, 1963–1987: Supply and Demand Factors — Lawrence F. Katz & Kevin M. Murphy, 1992
- Skills, Education, and the Rise of Earnings Inequality among the ‘Other 99 Percent’ — David H. Autor, 2014