Computerization, occupational tasks and the labor market: evidence from a natural experiment in Brazil

• Main Author: Riva, Flavio Luiz Russo
• Other Authors: Firpo, Sergio Pinheiro
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Tarefas ocupacionais; Experimento natural; Economia; Mercado de trabalho; Computadores; Rotina no trabalho; Salários
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10438/16233

Submitted by Flavio Riva ([e-mail]) on 2016-04-04T19:05:54Z No. of bitstreams: 1 riva_2016_masters-thesis.pdf: 1824164 bytes, checksum: 22f9d6dede2c5d51e7f8b2c613d9e015 (MD5) === Approved for entry into archive by Letícia Monteiro de Souza ([e-mail]) on 2016-04-04T20:07:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 riva_2016_masters-thesis.pdf: 1824164 bytes, checksum: 22f9d6dede2c5d51e7f8b2c613d9e015 (MD5) === Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-05T12:13:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 riva_2016_masters-thesis.pdf: 1824164 bytes, checksum: 22f9d6dede2c5d51e7f8b2c613d9e015 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-18 === The 'routinization' or 'routine-biased technological change' hypothesis states that computers substitute for routine tasks - those that follow procedures that can be codified into computer software - and complement nonroutine abstract tasks. This paper testssome natural predictions of 'routinization' on labor market outcomes of a large developing economy. We use the end of the Brazilian market reserve policy on mini- and microcomputers (October 1992) as a natural experiment generating exogenous variation in technology prices to identify the effects of computerization on wages and labor inputs. Using matched employer-employee longitudinal data, we show that labor input shifted more prominently toward nonroutine manual and away from routine tasks after the price shock. Also, two (three) years after the shock the partial effect of our occupational measure on real wages was approximately 5% (6%) higher, following the begin of the growth in the IT hardware market size. Jointly, these results contribute to a growing literature based on 'task approaches' by bringing testable implications of a plausibly exogenous computer price decline to a setting with a more credible source of identification. === A hipótese de 'rotinização' ou estabelece que computadores substituem tarefas rotineiras e complementam tarefas abstratas não rotineiras. Essa dissertação de mestrado test algumas predições naturais sobre o impacto 'rotinização' sobre o mercado de trabalho de uma grande economia em desenvolvimento. Uso o final da política de reserva de mercado para mini e micro-computador (Outubro de 1992) como um experimento natural que gera variação exógena nos preços de tecnologia para identificar os efeitos do uso de computadores em salários e insumos de trabalho. Conjuntamente, os resultados contribuem para a crescente literatura sobre 'perspectiva das tarefas' por trazer implicações testáveis de um queda exógena de preços de computador em um contexto com uma estratégia de identificação crível.