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The Speed of Employer Learning and Job Market Signaling Revisited

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  • Habermalz, Steffen

    (University of Mannheim)

Abstract

This paper discusses the claim made in Altonji and Pierret (1997) and Lange (2005) that a high speed of employer learning indicates a low value of job market signaling. The claim is first discussed intuitively in light of Spence’s original model and then evaluated in a simple extension of a model developed in Altonji and Pierret (1997). The analysis provided indicates that, if employer learning is incomplete, a high speed of employer learning is not necessarily indicative of a low value of job market signaling.

Suggested Citation

  • Habermalz, Steffen, 2006. "The Speed of Employer Learning and Job Market Signaling Revisited," IZA Discussion Papers 2309, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2309
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Joseph G. Altonji & Charles R. Pierret, 2001. "Employer Learning and Statistical Discrimination," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(1), pages 313-350.
    2. Henry S. Farber & Robert Gibbons, 1996. "Learning and Wage Dynamics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(4), pages 1007-1047.
    3. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1975. "The Theory of "Screening," Education, and the Distribution of Income," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 65(3), pages 283-300, June.
    4. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    5. Fabian Lange, 2007. "The Speed of Employer Learning," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(1), pages 1-35.
    6. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hornig, Stephan O. & Rottmann, Horst & Wapler, Rüdiger, 2011. "Sorting on the labour market: A literature overview and theoretical framework," Weidener Diskussionspapiere 27, University of Applied Sciences Amberg-Weiden (OTH).
    2. Alós-Ferrer, Carlos & Prat, Julien, 2012. "Job market signaling and employer learning," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(5), pages 1787-1817.
    3. Nick Huntington-Klein, 2021. "Human capital versus signaling is empirically unresolvable," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(5), pages 2499-2531, May.
    4. Timothy Perri, 2019. "Signaling and optimal sorting," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 126(2), pages 135-151, March.
    5. Theodore Koutmeridis, 2013. "The Market for "Rough Diamonds": Information, Finance and Wage Inequality," CDMA Working Paper Series 201307, Centre for Dynamic Macroeconomic Analysis, revised 14 Oct 2013.
    6. Steven Jacob Bosworth, 2019. "Higher education fees as signals," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2019-16, Department of Economics, University of Reading.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    employer learning; signaling;

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • D8 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts

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