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Human Capital, Social Mobility and the Skill Premium

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  • Konstantinos Angelopoulos
  • Jim Malley
  • Apostolis Philippopoulos

Abstract

This paper develops a dynamic general equilibrium model to highlight the role of human capital accumulation of agents differentiated by skill type in the joint determination of social mobility and the skill premium. We first show that our model captures the empirical co-movement of the skill premium, the relative supply of skilled to unskilled workers and aggregate output in the U.S. data from 1970-2000. We next show that endogenous social mobility and human capital accumulation are key channels through which the effects of capital tax cuts and increases in public spending on both pre- and post-college education are transmitted. In particular, social mobility creates additional incentives for the agents which enhance the beneficial effects of policy reforms. Moreover, the dynamics of human capital accumulation imply that, post reform, the skill premium is higher in the short-to medium-run than in the long-run.

Suggested Citation

  • Konstantinos Angelopoulos & Jim Malley & Apostolis Philippopoulos, 2013. "Human Capital, Social Mobility and the Skill Premium," CESifo Working Paper Series 4388, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4388
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    Cited by:

    1. Angelopoulos, Konstantinos & Asimakopoulos, Stylianos & Malley, James, 2019. "The Optimal Distribution Of The Tax Burden Over The Business Cycle," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(6), pages 2298-2337, September.
    2. Stylianos Asimakopoulos & James Malley & Konstantinos Angelopoulos, 2014. "Optimal progressive taxation in a model with endogenous skill supply," Discussion Papers 2014/12, University of Nottingham, Centre for Finance, Credit and Macroeconomics (CFCM).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    social mobility; skill premium; tax and education policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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