Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T18:53:08.969Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Internet, Literacy and Earnings Inequality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2016

Alain Trannoy
Alain Trannoy*
Affiliation:
THEMA, Université de Cergy-Pontoise
Get access

Summary

This paper outlines a theoretical framework to think about the role of NIT on earnings inequality at a domestic level. Two main ideas inspired a growth model. First, to be connected is only meaningful for people who are already literate. Second internet, like the invention of printing, permits to increase the part of knowledge that an individual can use. The results are obtained in terms of the Lorenz criterion. The role of some key parameters is emphasized like the elasticity of substitution between talent and knowledge. Two forces are at work. On the one hand, the gap between literate and non literate people will increase. On the other hand, the incentive to become literate increases. Policy implications are derived.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article présente un cadre théorique pour analyser le rôle des Nouvelles Technologies d’Information (NTI) sur l’inégalité des revenus au niveau domestique. Deux idées majeures inspirent ce modèle de croissance: premièrement, la connection à l’internet n’a de sens que pour des gens qui savent l’utiliser; deuxièment, tout comme l’invention de l’imprimerie, l’internet permet à un individu d’accroître son niveau de connaissance. Les résultats que l’on obtient sont mesurés à partir du critère de Lorenz. Le rôle de quelques paramètres-clé, tels que l’élasticité de substitution entre le talent et la connaissance, est plus particulièrement mis en valeur. Deux forces sont à l’oeuvre: d’une part, l’écart de revenus entre les personnes qui savent utiliser les NTI et les autres se creuse; d’autre part, l’incitation à l’apprentissage aux NTI s’accroît. Nous en tirons quelques conclusions sur les politiques à conduire.

Keywords

D31D63I2O33InégalitéInternetNiveau d’instructionRevenusCroissance endogèneD31D63I2O33
Type
II. Labor Economics and Human Capital Investments
Information
Recherches Économiques de Louvain/ Louvain Economic Review , Volume 68 , Special Issue 1-2: The New Economy: Implications and Viability , 2002 , pp. 125 - 149
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de recherches économiques et sociales 2002 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

trannoy@u-cergy.fr

I thank Arnaud Lefranc, Etienne Wassmer and participants of the conference on the New Economy in Metz in April 2001 for their comments as well as participants in a seminar in Nottingham. The financial support of the European Commission through the Contract ERBFMRXCT980248 is grateful acknowledged. The usual caveat applies.

References

Aghion, P. and Howitt, P., (1998), Endogenous Growth Theory, The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Aghion, P., Caroli, E. and Gracia-Penalosa, C., (1999), “Inequality and Economic Growth: the perspective of new growth theories”, Journal of Economic Literature, 37/4, pp. 1615–1660.Google Scholar
Atkinson, A.B. (1970), “On the Measurement of Inequality”, J. Econ. Theory, 2, pp. 244–263.Google Scholar
Eichhorn, W., Funke, H. and Richter, W. F. (1984), “Tax Progressivity and Inequality of Income Distribution”, Journal of Mathematical Economics, 13, pp. 127–131.Google Scholar
Gates, W. B. (1995), The Road Ahead, Viking Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Goody, J. (1996), “Literacy and the diffusion of knowledge across cultures and times”, Fundazione Eni Enrico Mattei, WP, 21/96.Google Scholar
Jakobsson, U. (1976), “On the measurement of the degree of progression”, Journal of Public Economics, pp. 161–168.Google Scholar
Jenkins, S. P. (1995), “Accounting for inequality trends: decomposition analyzes for the UK, 1971–86”, Economica, 62, pp. 29–64.Google Scholar
Juhn, C., Murphy, K. and Pierce, B. (1993), “Wage inequality and the rise in returns to skill”, Journal of Political Economy, 101, 3, pp.410–442.Google Scholar
Le breton, M., Moyes, P. and Trannoy, A., (1996), “Inequality Reducing Properties of Composite Taxation”, Journal of Economic Theory, 69, 1, pp. 71–103.Google Scholar
Le Monde, (2001), «L’évaluation des élèves en CE2 et en 6e révèle un accroissement des inégalités”, in Le Monde, , 18 Juillet 2001 p. 8. Google Scholar
Lindert, P. H. (2000), “Three Centuries of Inequality in Britain and America” in Handbook of Income Distribution, Vol 1, Atkinson, and Bourguigon, (eds), North Holland, pp. 167–216.Google Scholar
Lambert, P. (1993), The Distribution and Redistribution of Income: A Mathematical Analysis, Manchester University Press, Manchester.Google Scholar
Lyman, P. and Varian, H. (2000), “How much information”. Retrieved from http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/how-much-info.Google Scholar
Mincer, J. (1974), Schooling Experience and Earnings, Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Nickell, S. and Layard, R. (1999), “Labor Market Institutions and Economic Perfomance”, Chapter 46 in Handbook of Labor Economics, Vol 3c, Ashenfelter, and Card, (eds), North Holland, pp. 3029–3080.Google Scholar
OECD (2000), “Literacy in the Information Age: Final Report of the International Adult Literacy Survey”, Paris.Google Scholar
OECD (1995), “Literacy, Economy and Society: Results of the First International Adult Literacy Survey”, Paris, 200 ppGoogle Scholar
OECD (1992), “Adult Illiteracy and Economic Performance”, Paris, 88 pp.Google Scholar
The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain (1997), Edited by Morgan, Kenneth O., Oxford.Google Scholar
Piketty, T. (2001), Les Hauts Revenus en France au XXe siècle, Grasset, Paris.Google Scholar
Romer, P. (1989), “Human Capital And Growth: theory and evidence”, N.B.E.R, WP n°3173.Google Scholar
Sastre, M. et Trannoy, A. (2001), «Une décomposition de l’évolution de l’inégalité en France avec une perspective internationale 1985–1995» dans Rapport du Conseil d’Analyse Economique « Inégalités Economiques », 33, pp. 315–332.Google Scholar
Sen, A. K. (1993), On Economic Inequality, Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Shapiro, C. and Varian, H. (1998), A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy, Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Nations Unies (1999), «Rapport Mondial sur le Développement Humain», Publié pour le Programme des Nations Unies pour le Développement (PNUD), De Boeck, Bruxelles.Google Scholar
Williamson, J. G., (1985), Did British Capitalism breed Inequality, Allen and Unwin, Boston.Google Scholar