American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Transferability of Skills across Sectors and Heterogeneous Displacement Costs
American Economic Review
vol. 107,
no. 5, May 2017
(pp. 332–36)
Abstract
We use rich German administrative data to estimate new measures of skill transferability between manufacturing and other sectors. These measures capture the value of workers' human capital when applied in different sectors and are directly related to workers' displacement costs. We estimate these transferability measures using a selection correction model, which addresses workers' endogenous mobility, and a novel selection instrument based on the social network of workers. Our results indicate substantial heterogeneity in how workers can transfer their skills when they move across sectors, which implies heterogeneous displacement costs that depend on the sector to which workers reallocate.Citation
Yi, Moises, Steffen Mueller, and Jens Stegmaier. 2017. "Transferability of Skills across Sectors and Heterogeneous Displacement Costs." American Economic Review, 107 (5): 332–36. DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20171024Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
- J61 Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
- J62 Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
- L60 Industry Studies: Manufacturing: General
- L80 Industry Studies: Services: General