Human Capital Specificity: Evidence from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles and Displaced Worker Surveys, 1984–2000 | Zendy

Maxim Poletaev | Zendy; Chris Robinson | Zendy

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Human Capital Specificity: Evidence from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles and Displaced Worker Surveys, 1984–2000

Author(s) -

Maxim Poletaev,

Chris Robinson

Publication year - 2008

Publication title -

journal of labor economics

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 8.184

H-Index - 109

eISSN - 1537-5307

pISSN - 0734-306X

DOI - 10.1086/588180

Subject(s) - human capital , wage , portfolio , labour economics , construct (python library) , economics , capital (architecture) , computer science , financial economics , economic growth , archaeology , history , programming language

Measures of four basic skills, constructed from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, are used to examine the source of human capital specificity. The measures are used to characterize the skill portfolio of each job and to construct distance measures between jobs. Wage losses in the Displaced Worker Surveys are shown to be more closely associated with switching skill portfolios than switching industry or occupation code per se. These switches represent large decreases in the skill portfolio in the postdisplacement job. The recent evidence for industry-specific capital is reexamined. The results suggest a difference between fluid and crystallized skills. (c) 2008 by The University of Chicago.

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