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A Product-Market Theory of Industry-Specific Training

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Author Info

  • Hans Gersbach

    () (CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research, ETH Zurich)

  • Armin Schmutzler

    () (Socioeconomic Institute, University of Zurich)

Abstract

We develop a product market theory that explains why firms provide their workers with skills that are sufficiently general to be potentially useful for competitors. We consider a model where firms first decide whether to invest in industry-specific human capital, then make wage offers for each others’ trained employees and finally engage in imperfect product market competition. Equilibria with and without training, and multiple equilibria can emerge. If competition is sufficiently soft and returns to the number of trained workers decrease sufficiently, firms may invest in non-specific training if others do the same, because they would otherwise suffer a competitive disadvantage or need to pay high wages in order to attract trained workers.

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File URL: http://www.soi.uzh.ch/research/wp/2006/wp0610.pdf
File Function: first version, 2006
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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute in its series Working Papers with number 0610.

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Length: 28 pages
Date of creation: Nov 2006
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:soz:wpaper:0610

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Keywords: industry-specific training; human capital; oligopoly; turnover;

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References

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  1. Dennis Gaertner & Armin Schmutzler, 2006. "Merger Negotiations and Ex-Post Regret," Working Papers 0607, University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute, revised Dec 2007.
  2. Hans Gersbach & Armin Schmutzler, 2006. "Foreign Direct Investment and R&D offshoring," Working Papers 0606, University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute.
  3. Lalive, Rafael & Schmutzler, Armin, 2005. "Competition for Railway Markets: The Case of Baden-Württemberg," CEPR Discussion Papers 5396, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  4. Alejandra Cattaneo & Sandra Hanslin & Rainer Winkelmann, 2007. "The Apple Falls Increasingly Far: Parent-Child Correlation in Schooling and the Growth of Post-Secondary Education in Switzerland," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 143(II), pages 133-153, June.
  5. Dennis L. Gärtner & Daniel Halbheer, 2008. "Are There Waves in Merger Activity After All?," Working Papers 0092, University of Zurich, Institute for Strategy and Business Economics (ISU).
  6. Stefan Boes & Rainer Winkelmann, 2006. "The Effect of Income on Positive and Negative Subjective Well-Being," Working Papers 0605, University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute.
  7. Stefan Boes & Markus Lipp & Rainer Winkelmann, 2005. "Money Illusion Under Test," Working Papers 0514, University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute.
  8. Yves Schneider & Peter Zweifel, 2005. "Spatial Effects in Willingness-to-Pay: The Case of Two Nuclear Risks," Working Papers 0502, University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute, revised Sep 2007.
  9. Philippe Mahler & Rainer Winkelmann, 2005. "Single Motherhood and (Un)Equal EducationalOpportunities: Evidence for Germany," Working Papers 0512, University of Zurich, Socioeconomic Institute.
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