Business cycle fluctuations and the life cycle: How important is on-the-job skill accumulation?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hansen, Gary D.; Imrohoroglu, Selahattin
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; University of Southern California
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0531
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2008.08.009
• 发表日期: 2009
• 页码: 2293-2309
• 关键词: business cycles; On-the-job skill accumulation; overlapping generations; human capital

摘要

We study the effects of on-the-job skill accumulation on average hours worked by age and the volatility of hours over the life cycle in a calibrated general equilibrium model. Two forms of skill accumulation are considered: learning by doing and on-the-job training. In our economy with learning by doing, individuals supply more labor early in the life cycle and less as they approach retirement than they do in an economy without this feature. The impact of this feature on the volatility of hours over the life cycle depends on the value of the intertemporal elasticity of labor Supply. When individuals accumulate skills by on-the-job training, there are only weak effects on both the steady-state labor supply and its volatility over the life cycle. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.