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Asymmetric information and overeducation

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  • MENDOLICCHIO, Concetta

    (IAB, Spain)

  • PAOLINI, Dimitri

    (DEIR and CRENoS, Università di Sassari, Italy; Université catholique de Louvain, CORE, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium)

  • PIETRA, Tito

    (DSE, Università di Bologna, Italy)

Abstract

We consider an economy where production may use labor of two different skill levels. Workers are heterogeneous and, by investing in education, self-select into one of the two skills. Ex-ante, when firms choose their investments in physical capital, they do not know the level of human capital prevailing in the labor market they will be active in. We prove existence and constrained inefficiency of competitive equilibria, which are always characterized by overeducation. An increase in total expected surplus can be obtained by shrinking, at the margin, the set of workers investing in high skill. This can be implemented by imposing taxes on the cost of investing in high skill or by imposing a progressive labor earning tax.

Suggested Citation

  • MENDOLICCHIO, Concetta & PAOLINI, Dimitri & PIETRA, Tito, 2012. "Asymmetric information and overeducation," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2012021, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    • Handle: RePEc:cor:louvco:2012021
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    3. Concetta Mendolicchio & Dimitri Paolini & Tito Pietra, 2014. "Income Taxes, Subsidies to Education, and Investments in Human Capital," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 16(1), pages 24-47, February.
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    5. Dauth, Wolfgang & Südekum, Jens, 2012. "Profiles of local growth and industrial change : facts and an explanation," IAB-Discussion Paper 201220, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    6. Mertens, Jean-François & Rubinchik, Anna, 2015. "Pareto Optimality Of The Golden Rule Equilibrium In An Overlapping Generations Model With Production And Transfers," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(8), pages 1780-1799, December.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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