The Allocation of Talent over the Business Cycle and its Effect on Sectoral Productivity
Abstract
It is well documented that graduates enter different occupations in recessions than in booms. In this article, we examine the impact of this reallocation for long-term productivity and output across sectors. We develop a model in which talent flows to stable sectors in recessions and to cyclical sectors in booms. We find evidence for the predicted change in productivity caused by the business cycle in a setting where output can be readily measured: economists starting or graduating from their PhD in a recession are significantly more productive over the long term than economists starting or graduating in a boom.Download Info
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Paper provided by Centre for Economic Performance, LSE in its series CEP Discussion Papers with number dp1143.Length:
Date of creation: May 2012
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1143
Contact details of provider:
Web page: http://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/series.asp?prog=CEP
Related research
Keywords: Talent allocation; sectoral productivity; business cycle; roy model; PhDeconomists;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
- I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education and Research Institutions
- J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
- J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2012-05-15 (All new papers)
- NEP-BEC-2012-05-15 (Business Economics)
- NEP-LAB-2012-05-15 (Labour Economics)
- NEP-LMA-2012-05-15 (Labor Markets - Supply, Demand, & Wages)
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Borjas, George J. & Doran, Kirk B., 2012.
"The Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Productivity of American Mathematicians,"
Working Paper Series
rwp12-004, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
- George J. Borjas & Kirk B. Doran, 2012. "The Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Productivity of American Mathematicians," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 127(3), pages 1143-1203.
- George J. Borjas & Kirk B. Doran, 2012. "The Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Productivity of American Mathematicians," NBER Working Papers 17800, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Borjas, George J. & Doran, Kirk, 2012. "The Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Productivity of American Mathematicians," Scholarly Articles 8160722, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
- Kirk Doran & Kirk Doran, 2012. "The Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Productivity of American Mathematicians," Working Papers 002, University of Notre Dame, Department of Economics, revised Jul 2012.
- Oddbjørn Raaum & Knut Røed, 2006. "Do Business Cycle Conditions at the Time of Labor Market Entry Affect Future Employment Prospects?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(2), pages 193-210, May.
- Kahn, Lisa B., 2010. "The long-term labor market consequences of graduating from college in a bad economy," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 303-316, April.
- Philipp Kircher & Iourii Manovski & Fane Nadja Groes, 2009. "The U-Shapes of Occupational Mobility," 2009 Meeting Papers 26, Society for Economic Dynamics.
- Yuji Genda & Ayako Kondo & Souichi Ohta, 2010. "Long-Term Effects of a Recession at Labor Market Entry in Japan and the United States," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(1).
Citations
Blog mentions
As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:- The impact of recessions on economist productivity
by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2012-05-22 14:14:00 - [??]??????????????????
by himaginary in himaginaryの日記 on 2012-05-24 07:00:00 - PhDs in gloomy times
by Inaki Villanueva in Applied economist on 2012-07-24 18:08:00
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