The impact of human capital investments on pension benefits

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Johnson, RW
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0734-306X
• DOI: 10.1086/209821
• 发表日期: 1996
• 页码: 520-554
• 关键词: united-states-economy; retirement decisions; lifetime jobs; Older workers; mandatory retirement; sample selection; fringe benefits; labor mobility; CONTRACTS; wages

摘要

This article develops a model, with deferred compensation and severance pay, that predicts that workers bear all the costs and receive all the returns of human capital investments and that specific investments yield higher returns than general investments. This model also predicts that pensions, which efficiently defer compensation, will be positively related to specific investments. Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Older Men confirms these predictions; participation in company-sponsored training programs, proxying for specific investments, increases the probability of pension receipt and the level of benefits. More general training outside the firm has much smaller effects on pensions.