U.S. firms' stock return volatility rose fivefold from 1971 through 2000 and then reverted to near 1971 levels by 2006. This was driven mainly by a rise and fall in the firm-specific, rather than systematic, component of volatility. Firm-level total factor productivity growth volatility...

This paper examines the effect of information technology (IT) on the relative demand for educated workers in U.S. industries from 1960 to 1996. After decomposing this effect into IT use and adoption, I find that the use of IT is complementary with educated workers, and that educated workers have...

In this paper, we examine the sources of the productivity growth in the U.S. computer industry from 1978 to 1999. We estimate a joint production model of output quantity and quality that distinguishes two types of technological changes: process and product innovations. Based on the estimation...