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Job Market Signaling and Screening: An Experimental Comparison

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Author Info
Dorothea Kübler () (Technical University Berlin and IZA Bonn)
Wieland Müller () (Tilburg University)
Hans-Theo Normann () (Royal Holloway, University of London)

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Abstract

We analyze the Spence education game in experimental markets. We compare a signaling and a screening variant, and we analyze the effect of increasing the number of competing employers from two to three. In all treatments, more efficient workers invest more often in education and employers offer higher wages for workers who have invested. However, separation is incomplete, e.g., investment does not pay on average for efficient worker types. Increased competition leads to higher wages in the signaling sessions, not with screening. In the signaling version, we observe significantly more separating outcomes than in the screening version of the game.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 1794.

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Length: 42 pages
Date of creation: Oct 2005
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1794

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Related research
Keywords: job-market signaling job-market screening sorting Bayesian games experiments

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
C35 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models
I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
P3 - Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions
P52 - Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - Comparative Studies of Particular Economies

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References listed on IDEAS
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  9. Kubler, Dorothea & Muller, Wieland, 2002. "Simultaneous and sequential price competition in heterogeneous duopoly markets: experimental evidence," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(10), pages 1437-1460, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Cadsby, Charles Bram & Frank, Murray & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 1998. "Equilibrium Dominance in Experimental Financial Markets," Review of Financial Studies, Oxford University Press for Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(1), pages 189-232.
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  11. Cooper, David J & Garvin, Susan & Kagel, John H, 1997. "Adaptive Learning vs. Equilibrium Refinements in an Entry Limit Pricing Game," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(442), pages 553-75, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Ernst Fehr & Armin Falk, 1999. "Wage Rigidity in a Competitive Incomplete Contract Market," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(1), pages 106-134, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Riley, John G, 1979. "Testing the Educational Screening Hypothesis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(5), pages S227-52, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Miller, Ross M & Plott, Charles R, 1985. "Product Quality Signaling in Experimental Markets," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 53(4), pages 837-72, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. Lisa Posey & Abdullah Yavas, 2007. "Screening equilibria in experimental markets," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance Theory, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 147-167, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Cooper, David J. & Kagel, John H., 2003. "The impact of meaningful context on strategic play in signaling games," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 311-337, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  24. Dufwenberg, Martin & Gneezy, Uri, 2000. "Price competition and market concentration: an experimental study," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 7-22, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  27. Randolph Sloof & Hessel Oosterbeek & Joep Sonnemans, 2007. "Does Making Specific Investments Unobservable Boost Investment Incentives?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 16(4), pages 911-942, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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