On-the-job learning and earnings in Benin, Morocco and Senegal

Christophe Nordman and François-Charles Wolff

No DT/2007/09, Working Papers from DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation)

Abstract: (english) In this paper, we consider a model of on-the-job learning where workers learn informally by watching and imitating colleagues. We estimate the rate of knowledge diffusion inside the firm using three matched worker-firm data sets from Benin, Morocco and Senegal. We rely on non-linear least squares to estimate the structural parameters of the informal learning model and account for unobserved firm heterogeneity using firm factors derived from a principal component analysis. We find that the rate of knowledge diffusion is around 7 percent in Morocco and Senegal and much higher in Benin, but part of the learning-bywatching returns stems from firm heterogeneity. Informal training significantly affects the shape of returns to tenure in African countries. Finally, we estimate an extended model with both learning-by-watching and learning-by-doing and find significant benefits from imitating colleagues in Morocco.

Keywords: Earnings functions; informal training; learning-by-watching; learning-by-doing; returns to tenure; African countries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 J31 O12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2007-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-hrm and nep-lab
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt200709

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