scholarly journals Labor Market Search, Informality, and On-the-Job Human Capital Accumulation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Bobba ◽  
Luca Flabbi ◽  
Santiago Levy ◽  
Mauricio Tejada
Author(s):  
Hisahiro Naito

Abstract Recently, researchers have started to re-examine the so-called Atkinson-Stiglitz theorem on optimal commodity taxation. The essence of such research is to examine whether or not it is optimal to distort markets other than the labor market for achieving the second-best resource allocation. I examine this theorem by introducing the comparative advantage of human capital accumulation. More specifically, I assume that people with high ability obtain a higher return from skilled human capital accumulation than people with low ability. I explore the implication of this comparative advantage of human capital accumulation for the Atkinson-Stiglitz theorem on optimal commodity taxation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 547-585 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan J. Dolado ◽  
Etienne Lalé ◽  
Nawid Siassi

Three features of real‐life reforms of dual employment protection legislation (EPL) systems are particularly hard to study through the lens of standard labor‐market search models: (i) the excess job turnover implied by dual EPL, (ii) the nonretroactive nature of EPL reforms, and (iii) the transition dynamics from dual to a unified EPL system. In this paper, we develop a computationally tractable model addressing these issues. Our main finding is that the welfare gains of reforming a dual EPL system are sizeable and achieved mostly through a decrease in turnover at short job tenures. This conclusion continues to hold in more general settings featuring wage rigidities, heterogeneity in productivity upon matching, and human capital accumulation. We also find substantial cross‐sectional heterogeneity in welfare effects along the transition to a unified EPL scheme. Given that the model is calibrated to data from Spain, often considered as the epitome of a labor market with dual EPL, our results should provide guidance for a wide range of reforms of dual EPL systems.


ILR Review ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 562-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uta Schönberg

This paper compares the sources of wage growth of young male workers in two countries with very different labor market institutions, the United States and Germany. The author first develops a simple method for decomposing wage growth into components due to general human capital accumulation, firm-specific human capital accumulation, and job search. The empirical analysis uses data from administrative records (Germany) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (United States) for cohorts entering the labor market in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Although the two countries differed substantially in mobility rates, they were similar in the sources of wage growth, with general human capital accumulation being the most important single source and job search accounting for an additional 25% or more of total wage growth. There is no evidence that returns to firm-specific human capital accumulation were higher for German apprentices than for U.S. high school dropouts or graduates.


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