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Experience vs. Obsolescence: A Vintage-Human-Capital Model

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  • Kredler, Matthias

Abstract

I combine an infinite-horizon version of Ben-Porath’s (1967) model of human-capital accumulation with a vintage structure as in Chari & Hopenhayn (1991). Different skill levelsinside a vintage are complementary in production. Vintage-specific human capital is accumulated based on workers’ optimal strategies and is lost when the technology is phased out by an endogenous firm decision. I establish equivalence between competitive equilibrium and a planner’s problem. It is shown that returns to skill are highest in young vintages. Accelerated technological change shortens the life cycle of a technology and speeds up obsolescence; the premium on tenure rises because more workers are concentrated in young technologies with high skill premia. A calibration exercise comparing two steady states shows that the model quantitatively accounts for the changes in the experience premium, earnings dispersion and earnings turbulence in German data.

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  • Kredler, Matthias, 2008. "Experience vs. Obsolescence: A Vintage-Human-Capital Model," MPRA Paper 10200, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:10200
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    Cited by:

    1. Tobias Schultheiss & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2021. "Different degrees of skill obsolescence across hard and soft skills and the role of lifelong learning for labor market outcomes," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0188, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW), revised Sep 2022.
    2. Boyan Jovanovic, 2009. "When should firms invest in old capital?," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 5(1), pages 107-123, March.
    3. Tobias Schultheiss & Uschi Backes‐Gellner, 2023. "Different degrees of skill obsolescence across hard and soft skills and the role of lifelong learning for labor market outcomes," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(3), pages 257-287, July.
    4. David J Deming & Kadeem Noray, 2020. "Earnings Dynamics, Changing Job Skills, and STEM Careers," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(4), pages 1965-2005.
    5. Kredler, Matthias, 2014. "Vintage human capital and learning curves," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 154-178.
    6. Giovanni Mastrobuoni & Filippo Taddei, 2011. "Age Before Beauty? Productivity and Work vs. Seniority and Early Retirement," CeRP Working Papers 120, Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies, Turin (Italy).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Vintage human capital; age-earnings profiles; partial differential equations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • C63 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computational Techniques
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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