SKILLED AND UNSKILLED LABOR ARE LESS SUBSTITUTABLE THAN COMMONL

SKILLED AND UNSKILLED LABOR ARE LESS SUBSTITUTABLE THAN COMMONL

Autor: prof. PhDr. Tomáš Havránek Ph.D.
doc. PhDr. Zuzana Havránková Ph.D.
Mgr. Olesia Zeynalova
Lubica Laslopova
Typ: IES Working Papers
Rok: 2020
Číslo: 29
ISSN / ISBN:  
Publikováno v: IES Working Papers 29/2020
Místo vydání: Prague
Klíčová slova: Elasticity of substitution, skill premium, meta-analysis, model uncertainty, publication bias
JEL kódy: J23, J24, J31
Citace: Havranek T., Irsova Z., Laslopova L. and Zeynalova O. (2020): “Skilled and Unskilled Labor Are Less Substitutable than Commonly Thought” IES Working Papers 29/2020. IES FSV. Charles University
Abstrakt: A key parameter in the analysis of wage inequality is the elasticity of substitution between skilled and unskilled labor. We question the common view that the elasticity exceeds 1. Two biases, publication and attenuation, conspire to pull the mean elasticity reported in the lit- erature to 1.9. After correcting for the biases, the literature is consistent with the elasticity in the US of 0.6–0.9. Our analysis relies on 729 estimates of the elasticity collected from 76 studies as well as 37 controls that reflect the context in which the estimates were obtained. We use recently developed nonlinear techniques to correct for publication bias and employ Bayesian and frequentist model averaging to address model uncertainty. Our results sug- gest that, first, insignificant estimates of the elasticity are underreported. Second, because researchers typically estimate the elasticity’s inverse, measurement error exaggerates the elasticity, and we show the exaggeration is substantial. Third, elasticities are systematically larger for developed countries, translog estimation, and methods that ignore endogeneity.
Ke stažení: wp_2020_29_havranek, irsova, laslopova, zeynalova.pdf