What about the race between education and technology in the Global South? Comparing skill premiums in colonial Africa and Asia
利用50个非洲和亚洲经济体的职业工资数据库，比较了殖民时期及之后（约1870-2010年）技能溢价的长期模式，发现非洲和亚洲的技能溢价在20世纪大幅下降并趋同于西方水平，并初步解释了非洲-亚洲差距的起源和全球趋同的驱动因素。
Abstract Historical research on the race between education and technology has focused on the West but barely touched upon ‘the rest’. A new occupational wage database for 50 African and Asian economies allows us to compare long‐run patterns in skill premiums across the colonial and post‐colonial eras ( c . 1870–2010). Our data reveal three major patterns. First, skilled labour was considerably more expensive in colonial Africa and Asia than in pre‐industrial Europe. Second, skill premiums were distinctly higher in Africa than in Asia. Third, in both regions, skill premiums fell dramatically over the course of the twentieth century, ultimately converging to levels long observed in the West. Our paper takes a first step to explain both the origins of the Africa–Asia gap and the drivers of global skill premium convergence, paying special attention to the colonial context that shaped demand, supply, and labour market institutions.