Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0

Author-Name: Manuel A. Hidalgo-Pérez                            
Author-X-Name-First: Manuel A.
Author-X-Name-Last: Hidalgo-Pérez  
Author-Email: mhidper@upo.es                      
Author-Workplace-Name: Universidad Pablo de Olavide


Title: The AI-Driven Skill Premium: A Model of Positional Scarcity and Cognitive Traps


Abstract: This paper models the impact of Generative AI on labor inequality by endogenizing technological complementarity (β) as a function of human capital (h) and supervision costs (σ). I introduce "Positional Capital" (W) -workers' material conditions'- as a key determinant of adaptation capacity, showing how precarity generates transition traps. The framework accounts for the "expert paradox", cognitive decapitalization through AI dependency, and the micro-macro productivity disconnect. Calibrated simulations indicate that the wage inequality ratio rises from 1.33x to 2.12x within a decade under current technological trajectories.

Length: 59 pages

Creation-Date: 2026

File-URL: http://www.upo.es/serv/bib/wps/econ2601.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
x-File-Ref: http://www.upo.es/serv/bib/wps/refs/refecon2601.redif

Number: 26.01


Classification-JEL: J24, J31, O33, J62
         
Keywords: Generative AI, Technological Complementarity, Inequality, Positional Capital, Cognitive Decapitalization.


Handle: RePEc:pab:wpaper:26.01