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The aggregate labor market effects of the Swedish knowledge lift program

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Author Info
Albrecht, James (Department of Economics, Georgetown University)
van den Berg, Gerard J () (IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation)
Vroman, Susan (Department of Economics, Georgetown University)

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Abstract

The Swedish adult education program known as the Knowledge Lift (1997-2002) was unprecedented in its size and scope, aiming to raise the skill level of large numbers of low-skill workers. This paper evaluates the potential effects of this program on aggregate labor market outcomes. This is done by calibrating an equilibrium search model with heterogeneous worker skills using pre-program data and then forecasting the program impacts. Our calibrations suggest that the equilibrium treatment effects were positive - wages are predicted to increase, as are the employment rates of the treated. The equilibrium effects magnify the partial effects by a factor 1.5 to 2. This is due to the increase in demand for skills that is triggered by the increase in its supply.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation in its series Working Paper Series with number 2008:1.

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Length: 29 pages
Date of creation: 20 Dec 2007
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2008_001

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Postal: Labour Market Policy Evaluation, P O Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
Phone: (+46) 18 - 471 70 70
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Related research
Keywords: Job search; policy evaluation; wages; unemployment; Swedish labor market; calibration; adult education; equilibrium effects;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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References listed on IDEAS
Please 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.:
  1. A. Gautier, Pieter & J. van den Berg, Gerard & C. van Ours, Jan & Ridder, Geert, 2002. "Worker turnover at the firm level and crowding out of lower educated workers," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 523-538, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Edin, Per-Anders & Fredriksson, Peter, 2000. "LINDA - Longitudinal INdividual DAta for Sweden," Working Paper Series 2000:19, Uppsala University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Robert G. Fay, 1996. "Enhancing the Effectiveness of Active Labour Market Policies: Evidence from Programme Evaluations in OECD Countries," OECD Labour Market and Social Policy Occasional Papers 18, OECD, Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs. [Downloadable!]
  4. Davidson, Carl & Matusz, Steven J. & Shevchenko, Andrei, 2008. "Globalization and firm level adjustment with imperfect labor markets," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 295-309, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Robert Shimer, 2005. "The Cyclical Behavior of Equilibrium Unemployment and Vacancies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 25-49, March. [Downloadable!]
  6. Jeremy Lise & Shannon Seitz & Jeffrey Smith, 2004. "Equilibrium Policy Experiments and the Evaluation of Social Programs," NBER Working Papers 10283, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Heckman, James J & Lochner, Lance & Taber, Christopher, 1998. "General-Equilibrium Treatment Effects: A Study of Tuition Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 381-86, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Martin, John P. & Grubb, David, 2001. "What works and for whom: a review of OECD countries' experiences with active labour market policies," Working Paper Series 2001:14, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
  9. Stenberg, Anders, 2003. "An Evaluation of the Adult Education Initiative Relative Labor Market Training," UmeÃ¥ Economic Studies 609, Umeå University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  10. Louis S. Jacobson & Robert LaLonde & Daniel G. Sullivan, 2003. "Should we teach old dogs new tricks? the impact of community college retraining on older displaced workers," Working Paper Series WP-03-25, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. [Downloadable!]
  11. James Albrecht & Susan Vroman, 2002. "A Matching Model with Endogenous Skill Requirements," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 43(1), pages 283-305, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Albrecht, James & van den Berg, Gerard J & Vroman, Susan, 2004. "The knowledge lift: The Swedish adult education program that aimed to eliminate low worker skill levels," Working Paper Series 2004:17, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
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  13. Barbara Petrongolo & Christopher A. Pissarides, 2001. "Looking into the Black Box: A Survey of the Matching Function," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 390-431, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Heckman, James J. & Lalonde, Robert J. & Smith, Jeffrey A., 1999. "The economics and econometrics of active labor market programs," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 31, pages 1865-2097 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Katarina Richardson & Gerard J. van den Berg, 2006. "Swedish Labor Market Training and the Duration of Unemployment," IZA Discussion Papers 2314, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please 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.)

  1. Alexius, Annika & Holmlund, Bertil, 2008. "Monetary policy and Swedish unemployment fluctuations," Working Paper Series 2008:5, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Annette Bergemann & Bernd Fitzenberger & Stefan Speckesser, 2009. "Evaluating the dynamic employment effects of training programs in East Germany using conditional difference-in-differences," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(5), pages 797-823. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Richardson, Katarina & van den Berg, Gerard J, 2008. "Duration dependence versus unobserved heterogeneity in treatment effects: Swedish labor market training and the transition rate to employment," Working Paper Series 2008:7, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
  4. Bergemann, Annette & van den Berg, Gerard J., 2008. "From Giving Birth to Paid Labor: The Effects of Adult Education for Prime-Aged Mothers," IZA Discussion Papers 3600, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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