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Production and Learning in Teams

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Listed:
  • Kyle Herkenhoff
  • Jeremy Lise
  • Guido Menzio
  • Gordon M. Phillips

Abstract

The effect of coworkers on the learning and the productivity of an individual is measured combining theory and data. The theory is a frictional equilibrium model of the labor market in which production and the accumulation of human capital of an individual are allowed to depend on the human capital of coworkers. The data is a matched employer-employee dataset of US firms and workers. The measured production function is supermodular. The measured human capital function is non-linear: Workers catch-up to more knowledgeable coworkers, but are not dragged-down by less knowledgeable ones. The market equilibrium features a pattern of sorting of coworkers across teams that is inefficiently positive. This inefficiency results in low human capital individuals having too few chances to learn from more knowledgeable coworkers and, in turn, in a stock of human capital and a flow of output that are inefficiently low.

Suggested Citation

  • Kyle Herkenhoff & Jeremy Lise & Guido Menzio & Gordon M. Phillips, 2018. "Production and Learning in Teams," NBER Working Papers 25179, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25179
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    Cited by:

    1. Bobba, Matteo & Flabbi, Luca & Levy, Santiago & Tejada, Mauricio, 2021. "Labor market search, informality, and on-the-job human capital accumulation," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 223(2), pages 433-453.
    2. Schulz, Bastian, 2024. "Labor market dynamics with sorting," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    3. Koike Yasutaka-Mori & Toshitaka Maruyama & Koki Okumura, 2024. "Inventor Mobility, Knowledge Diffusion, and Growth," ISER Discussion Paper 1244, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    4. Axel Anderson & Lones Smith, 2024. "The Comparative Statics of Sorting," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(3), pages 709-751, March.
    5. Fatih Karahan & Serdar Ozkan & Jae Song, 2019. "Anatomy of Lifetime Earnings Inequality: Heterogeneity in Job Ladder Risk vs. Human Capital," Staff Reports 908, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    6. Paolo Martellini & Guido Menzio & Ludo Visschers, 2021. "Revisiting the Hypothesis of High Discounts and High Unemployment," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(637), pages 2203-2232.
    7. Moscelli, G.; & Sayli, M.; & Mello, M.;, 2022. "Staff engagement, coworkers’ complementarity and employee retention: Evidence from English NHS hospitals," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 22/25, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    8. Benjamin Lochner & Bastian Schulz, 2024. "Firm Productivity, Wages, and Sorting," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(1), pages 85-119.
    9. Ji, Yan, 2021. "Job Search under Debt: Aggregate Implications of Student Loans," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 741-759.
    10. Stéphane Bonhomme, 2021. "Selection on Welfare Gains: Experimental Evidence from Electricity Plan Choice," Working Papers 2021-15, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    11. Enzo Brox & Michael Lechner, 2024. "Teamwork and Spillover Effects in Performance Evaluations," Papers 2403.15200, arXiv.org.
    12. Julien Sauvagnat & Fabiano Schivardi, 2024. "Are Executives in Short Supply? Evidence from Death Events," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(1), pages 519-559.
    13. Benjamin S. Griffy, 2021. "Search And The Sources Of Life‐Cycle Inequality," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 62(4), pages 1321-1362, November.
    14. Moscelli, Giuseppe & Sayli, Melisa & Mello, Marco, 2022. "Staff Engagement, Coworkers' Complementarity and Employee Retention: Evidence from English NHS Hospitals," IZA Discussion Papers 15638, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Job Boerma & Aleh Tsyvinski & Alexander P. Zimin, 2021. "Sorting with Teams," Papers 2109.02730, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2023.
    16. Nix, Emily, 2020. "A researcher’s guide to the Swedish compulsory school reform," Working Paper Series 2020:14, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    17. Sohail, Faisal, 2021. "From employee to entrepreneur: Learning, employer size, and spinout dynamics," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    18. Xiao, Pengpeng, 2021. "Wage and Employment Discrimination by Gender in Labor Market Equilibrium," Working Papers 144, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    19. Stephane Bonhomme, 2021. "Teams: Heterogeneity, Sorting, and Complementarity," Papers 2102.01802, arXiv.org.
    20. Braun, Martin & Verdier, Valentin, 2023. "Estimation of spillover effects with matched data or longitudinal network data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 233(2), pages 689-714.
    21. Victoria Gregory, 2020. "Firms as Learning Environments: Implications for Earnings Dynamics and Job Search," Working Papers 2020-036, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, revised Sep 2023.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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