Enriching a Theory of Wage and Promotion Dynamics Inside Firms

Robert Gibbons and Michael Waldman

No 4324-03, Working papers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management

Abstract: In previous work we showed that a model that integrates job assignment, human-capital acquisition, and learning can explain several empirical findings concerning wage and promotion dynamics inside firms. In this paper we extend that model in two ways. First, we incorporate schooling into the model and derive a number of testable implications that we then compare with the available empirical evidence. Second, and more important, we show that introducing "task-specific" human capital allows us to produce cohort effects (i.e., the finding that a cohort that enters a firm at a low wage will continue to earn below-average wages years later). We argue that task-specific human capital is a realistic concept and may have many important implications. We also discuss limitations of our (extended) approach

Keywords: Wage Dynamics; Promotion Dynamics; Human Capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003-08-01
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Enriching a Theory of Wage and Promotion Dynamics inside Firms (2006)
Working Paper: Enriching a Theory of Wage and Promotion Dynamics Inside Firms (2003)
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