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Job Market Signaling and Employer Learning

Author

Listed:
  • Alós-Ferrer, Carlos

    (University of Konstanz)

  • Prat, Julien

    (CREST)

Abstract
This paper extends the job market signaling model of Spence (1973) by allowing firms to learn the ability of their employees over time. Contrary to the model without employer learning, we find that the Intuitive Criterion does not always select a unique separating equilibrium. When the Intuitive Criterion bites and information is purely asymmetric, the separating level of education does not depend on the observability of workers’ types. On the other hand, when workers are also uncertain about their productivity, the separating level of education is ambiguously related to the speed of employer learning.

Suggested Citation

  • Alós-Ferrer, Carlos & Prat, Julien, 2008. "Job Market Signaling and Employer Learning," IZA Discussion Papers 3285, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3285
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Jiri Chod & Nikolaos Trichakis & Gerry Tsoukalas, 2019. "Supplier Diversification Under Buyer Risk," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(7), pages 3150-3173, July.
    3. Tomás Rodríguez Barraquer & Xu Tan, 2023. "A model of competitive signaling with rich message spaces," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 27(1), pages 1-43, February.
    4. Mark Voorneveld & Jörgen W. Weibull, 2011. "A Scent of Lemon—Seller Meets Buyer with a Noisy Quality Observation," Games, MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-24, March.
    5. Chris Bidner, 2014. "A spillover‐based theory of credentialism," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 47(4), pages 1387-1425, November.
    6. Rosar, Frank, 2017. "Test design under voluntary participation," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 632-655.
    7. Andrew Atkeson & Christian Hellwig & Guillermo Ordoñez, 2015. "Optimal Regulation in the Presence of Reputation Concerns," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(1), pages 415-464.
    8. Cai, Guowei & Deng, Weiguang & Li, Xue, 2023. "Student leadership experience and job accessibility: An experiment from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    9. Sharon Belenzon & Aaron K. Chatterji & Brendan Daley, 2020. "Choosing Between Growth and Glory," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(5), pages 2050-2074, May.
    10. Marcus Berliant & Chia-Ming Yu, 2015. "Locational Signaling And Agglomeration," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(5), pages 757-773, November.
    11. NAKABAYASHI, Masaki, 2011. "Acquired Skills and Learned Abilities: Wage Dynamics of Blue-collar Workers in Internal Labor Markets," ISS Discussion Paper Series (series F) f153, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo, revised Apr 2012.
    12. Ginzburg, Boris, 2019. "A Simple Model of Competitive Testing," MPRA Paper 99463, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Harbaugh, Richmond & To, Theodore, 2020. "False modesty: When disclosing good news looks bad," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 43-55.
    14. Ekmekci, Mehmet & Kos, Nenad, 2023. "Signaling covertly acquired information," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    15. Figueroa, Nicolás & Guadalupi, Carla, 2021. "Testing the sender: When signaling is not enough," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    16. Daley, Brendan & Green, Brett, 2014. "Market signaling with grades," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 114-145.
    17. Luigi Brighi & Marcello D'Amato, 2020. "Investment in early education and job market signaling," Department of Economics (DEMB) 0179, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Department of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    18. Ivan Anic & Vladimir Bozin & Branko Uroševic, 2016. "A Signaling Model of University Selection," CESifo Working Paper Series 5741, CESifo.
    19. Helmut Bester & Matthias Lang & Jianpei Li, 2021. "Signaling versus Auditing," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 52(4), pages 859-883, December.
    20. Luis Santos-Pinto, 2011. "Labor Market Signaling and Self-Confidence: Wage Compression and the Gender Pay Gap N.B.: This paper replaces Nr 10.07 "Labor Market Signaling with Overconfident Workers" (June 2010)," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 11.07, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.
    21. Andrea Gallice & Edoardo Grillo, 2019. "A Model of Educational Investment, Social Concerns, and Inequality," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 121(4), pages 1620-1646, October.
    22. Qiaochu Wang & Yan Huang & Stefanus Jasin & Param Vir Singh, 2023. "Algorithmic Transparency with Strategic Users," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(4), pages 2297-2317, April.
    23. Steven Jacob Bosworth, 2019. "Higher education fees as signals," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2019-16, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    24. Bester, Helmut & Lang, Matthias & Li, Jianpei, 2018. "Signaling versus costly information acquisition," Discussion Papers 2018/11, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    25. Luís Santos-Pinto, 2012. "Labor Market Signaling and Self-Confidence: Wage Compression and the Gender Pay Gap," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(4), pages 873-914.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    education; job markets; signaling; intuitive criterion; employer learning;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • C70 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - General
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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