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Project A4

The Heterogeneity of Skills, Technological Change, and Changing Perspectives on the Labor Market

Dawid, Herbert, Prof. Dr.
Head of Project A4
Harting, Philipp, Dr.
Research associate Project A4
van der Hoog, Sander, J.-Prof. Dr.
Research associate Project A4

The goal of this project is to broaden and deepen our understanding of how technological progress influences various mechanisms that transform heterogeneities in formal qualification (general skills) into inequalities in pay. It accords particular attention to the differing dynamics of specific (nonobservable) skills.

The project studies this issue by developing an empirically founded, agent-based simulation model of a closed economy, allowing explicit modeling of the interaction between heterogeneous individuals under different institutional conditions and explaining aspects of economic dynamics, such as technological progress, as endogenous phenomena. The key facets of the concrete mechanisms to be observed in the simulation model are: (a) the enhancement of specific skills through dealing with technologies in the workplace (learning process), (b) feedback effects between the employee's general/specific skills and the employer's choice of technology, and (c) the transfer of information about jobs through social networks (social closure).

By using the simulation model, it is possible, in a first step, to analyze whether and how far various assumptions about technological progress influence these mechanisms, and thus to investigate the effect of heterogeneity in formal qualification on pay inequalities. One important point here is that the closed nature of the simulation model makes it possible to identify chains of effects that arise from feedback between various sectors of the economy. In a second step, the project will study the effects of various interventions by economic policy makers and institutions on the income dynamics of different skill groups.

The special benefits of this approach are twofold. The first is that the effect of three aspects on the genesis of pay inequalities can be analyzed simultaneously: endogenous technological progress; the endogenously generated, vertically differentiated labor demand and supply, and institutional interventions. This brings together analyses that have previously been conducted in isolation, and offers the opportunity to study feedback effects between the variables. The second benefit is that this approach can be expanded successively to cover a 12-year period. The goal is to endogenize the heterogeneities in formal qualification and thereby model and analyze their emergence. This makes it necessary to take a cross-generational view.

9 Publications

2014 | Journal Article | PUB-ID: 2562723
How do social networks contribute to wage inequality? Insights from an agent-based analysis
Dawid H, Gemkow S (2014)
Industrial and Corporate Change 23(5): 1171-1200.
PUB | DOI | WoS
 
2014 | Working Paper | PUB-ID: 2709114
Cohesion Policy and Inequality Dynamics: Insights from a Heterogeneous Agents Macroeconomic Model
Dawid H, Harting P, Neugart M (2014) SFB 882 Working Paper Series; 34.
Bielefeld: DFG Research Center (SFB) 882 From Heterogeneities to Inequalities.
PUB | PDF
 
2012 | Book Chapter | PUB-ID: 2520439
Capturing Firm Behavior in Agent-Based Models of Industry Evolution and Macroeconomic Dynamics
Dawid H, Harting P (2012)
In: Applied Evolutionary Economics, Behavior and Organizations. Bünstorf G (Ed); Edward-Elgar: 103-130.
PUB
 
2012 | Journal Article | PUB-ID: 2088487
Labor market integration policies and the convergence of regions: the role of skills and technology diffusion
Dawid H, Gemkow S, Harting P, Neugart M (2012)
Journal of Evolutionary Economics 22(3): 543-562.
PUB | File | DOI | WoS
 
2011 | Journal Article | PUB-ID: 2093272
Diversification: a road to inefficiency in product innovations?
Dawid H, Reimann M (2011)
Journal of Evolutionary Economics 21(2): 191-229.
PUB | DOI | WoS
 
2011 | Journal Article | PUB-ID: 2394386
Referral hiring, endogenous social networks, and inequality: an agent-based analysis
Gemkow S, Neugart M (2011)
Journal of Evolutionary Economics 21(4): 703-719.
PUB | DOI | WoS
 
2010 | Journal Article | PUB-ID: 1861148
Learning Benevolent Leadership in a Heterogenous Agents Economy
Arifovic J, Dawid H, Deissenberg C, Kostyshyna O (2010)
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 34(9): 1768-1790.
PUB | DOI | WoS
 
2010 | Journal Article | PUB-ID: 2088482
Agent-based Models for Economic Policy Design
Dawid H, Neugart M (2010)
Eastern Economic Journal 37: 44-50.
PUB | File | DOI
 
2009 | Journal Article | PUB-ID: 1861146
On the Effects of Skill Upgrading in the Presence of Spatial Labor Market Frictions: An Agent-Based Analysis of Spatial Policy Design
Dawid H, Gemkow S, Harting P, Neugart M (2009)
Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 12(4).
PUB