The Diffusion of New Technologies
Abstract
Substantial concerns remain, about the implications of new technologies, including whether they contribute to income inequality (e.g., do technology-enabled jobs spread beyond college graduates?) andregional inequality (do technology jobs spread outside Silicon Valley?), due to limited data on the development and spread of multiple technological advances in a single framework. We identify phrases associated with novel technologies using textual analysis of patents, job postings, and earnings calls, enabling us to identify four stylized facts on the diffusion of jobs relating to new technologies. First, the development of new technologies is geographically highly concentrated, more so even than overall patenting: 56% of the economically most impactful technologies come from just two U.S. locations, Silicon Valley and the Northeast Corridor. Second, as the technologies mature and the number of related jobs grows, hiring spreads geographically. But this process is very slow, taking around 50 years to disperse fully. Third, while initial hiring in new technologies is highly skill biased, over time the mean skill level in new positions declines, drawing in an increasing number of lower-skilled workers. Finally, the geographic spread of hiring is slowest for higher-skilled positions, with the locations where new technologies were pioneered remaining the focus for the technology’s high-skill jobs for decades.