Seminar Vol. 168
Title: The Relative Efficiency of Skilled Labor across Countries: Measurement and Interpretation
Speaker: Federico Rossi, University of Warwick
Time: July 8th, 2019 13:30–15:00
Venue: Conference Room 106B, Zhonghui Building (IESR, JNU College of Economics)
About the speaker:
Federico Rossi is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick. His research is at the intersection between macroeconomics, development and labor economics, with a particular focus on human capital. He obtained his Ph.D. in Economics from the LSE in December 2017.
Abstract:
This paper studies how the relative productivity of skilled and unskilled labor varies across countries. I use both micro-data and other sources for countries at different stages of development to document that the skill premium varies little between rich and poor countries, in spite of large differences in the relative skill supply. This pattern is consistent with the view that the relative productivity of skilled workers is higher in rich countries. I propose a methodology based on the comparison of labor market outcomes of immigrants with different levels of educational attainment to discriminate between technology and unobserved human capital as drivers of these patterns. I find that human capital quality plays a minor role in explaining cross-country differences in relative skill efficiency.
