Comparative Advantage, Learning, and Sectoral Wage Determination

Robert Gibbons, Lawrence F. Katz (), Thomas Lemieux () and Daniel Parent ()

No 8889, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We develop a model in which a worker's skills determine the worker's current wage and sector. Both the market and the worker are initially uncertain about some of the worker's skills. Endogenous wage changes and sector mobility occur as labor-market participants learn about these unobserved skills. We show how the model can be estimated using non-linear instrumental-variables techniques. We then apply our methodology to study the wages and allocation of workers across occupations and across industries. For both occupations and industries, we find that high-wage sectors employ high-skill workers and offer high returns to workers' skills. Estimates of these sectoral wage differences that do not account for sector-specific returns are therefore misleading. We also suggest further applications of our theory and methodology.

JEL-codes: J3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-ltv
Date: 2002-04
Note: EFG LS
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Related works:
Working Paper: Comparative Advantage, Learning, and Sectoral Wage Determination (2002)
Journal Article: Comparative Advantage, Learning, and Sectoral Wage Determination (2005)
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