Chris Robinson - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Chris Robinson
A large literature studies the wage consequences of over-education" in the sense of a worker, by ... more A large literature studies the wage consequences of over-education" in the sense of a worker, by some measure, having a higher level of education than is required for the job. We use unique new data to reexamine the common interpretation that initial over-education represents a harmful type of mismatch that arises due to information induced frictions. We contrast this with the alternative that college graduates are heterogeneous with respect to their human capital and that the labor market is appropriately allocating them to jobs, even when many are observed starting in jobs that do not require a college degree.
Separate identification of the price and quantity of human capital has important implications for... more Separate identification of the price and quantity of human capital has important implications for understanding key issues in economics. Price and quantity series are derived for four education levels. The price series are highly correlated and they exhibit a strong secular trend. Three resulting implications are explored: the rising college premium is found to be driven more by relative quantity than relative price changes, life-cycle wage profiles are readily interpretable as reflecting optimal human capital investment paths using the estimated price series, and adjusting the labor input for quality increases dramatically reduces the contribution of MFP to growth.
Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, 2015
This paper reviews the most important scientific and policy research in the area of human capital... more This paper reviews the most important scientific and policy research in the area of human capital, education achievement and learning and discusses the need for a new nationally representative household panel for the United States to provide the research resources necessary to keep the United States at the forefront of scientific and policy research in this area. Excellent panel data incorporating recent advances in panel design and innovative measures are required for addressing the most important policy issues.
Separate identification of the price and quantity of human capital has important implications for... more Separate identification of the price and quantity of human capital has important implications for understanding key issues in labor economics and macroeconomics. Price and quantity series are derived and subjected to robustness checks. The human capital price series associated with different education levels are highly correlated and exhibit a strong secular trend. Three resulting implications are explored: (1) using the derived quantities life-cycle profiles are reexamined ; (2) the rising college premium is reinterpreted and found to be mainly driven by relative quantity changes, and (3) adjusting the labor input for quality increases dramatically reduces the contribution of MFP to growth.
In the last three decades, Canada and the US showed different paths in per capita GDP growth, ski... more In the last three decades, Canada and the US showed different paths in per capita GDP growth, skill premiums and inequality. Both firm and worker productivity differences play a role and have different policy implications, but are difficult to distinguish. To examine separate firm and worker productivity effects, human capital prices and quantities are estimated using the methods developed in Bowlus and Robinson (2012). The quantities reflect worker productivity while the prices tend to reflect firm productivity. In the US there was faster growth and a much more rapid rise in skill premia and inequality. This was primarily due to different paths for the relative price paid to rent high skilled human capital in the two countries, rather than differences in relative quantities of human capital supplied by the typical high skilled worker. Worker productivity increased for high skilled workers, but decreased for low skilled workers over the 1980-2000 period.
The data for the analysis come from the March Current Population Surveys (MCPS). A consistent and... more The data for the analysis come from the March Current Population Surveys (MCPS). A consistent and annotated version of the files from UNICON was used as the data source. In this Appendix these data are described with particular reference to issues of data quality and comparability over time in Sections A1-3. Section A4 documents the robustness of the flat spot estimates presented in Figure 3, and Section A5 presents the alternative standard unit estimates for the dropouts.
In this paper new estimates of human capital prices and quantities, taking into account technolog... more In this paper new estimates of human capital prices and quantities, taking into account technological change in human capital production and endogenous education choice, are presented for both Canada and the United States. The implications of the estimates for the sources of growth are examined. The most striking result is that adjusting the labour input for quality increases reduces the contribution of MFP growth in standard of living growth to zero. The largest part of this quality increase is not due to composition changes but instead to technological change in human capital production. Since most attempts at adjusting the labour input for quality changes only deal with composition, they cannot capture a large part of the quality change. The results suggest that technological improvement in human capital production could be the major source of standard of living growth in the last few decades. Audra Bowlus*, Haoming Liu** and Chris Robinson* *University of Western Ontario **Natio...
Direction Des Etudes Analytiques Documents De Recherche, 2006
The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, 2016
The evolution of human capital over the life-cycle, especially during the accumulation phase, has... more The evolution of human capital over the life-cycle, especially during the accumulation phase, has been extensively studied within an optimal human capital investment framework. Given the ageing of the workforce, there is increasing interest in the human capital of older workers. The most recent research on wage patterns has adopted a new multidimensional skills/tasks approach. We argue that this approach is also well suited to the investigation of the evolution of the human capital of older workers. There is clear evidence that the typical concave Ben-Porath shape for a wage based single dimension human capital measure masks different shapes for the individual components in a multidimensional skill portfolio. Not all components evolve in the same way over the life-cycle. Some components of the skill vector are particularly sensitive to ageing effects for older workers, but this sensitivity is underestimated using occupation level rather than individual level skill observations. The evidence suggests that workers can and do adjust their skill portfolios in various ways as they approach retirement and that the decline in skills is not purely driven by selection.
RCER Working Papers, 1989
By Glenn MacDonald and Chris M. Robinson; NEW PREDICTIONS FROM THE ECONOMICS OF UNIONISM.
Journal of Labor Economics, 2019
In the last three decades, Canada and the United States showed different paths in per capita gros... more In the last three decades, Canada and the United States showed different paths in per capita gross domestic product growth, skill premiums, and inequality. Worker quality and price differences both play a role but are difficult to distinguish. Human capital prices and quantities are estimated using methods we developed previously. In the United States, there was faster growth and a much more rapid rise in skill premia and inequality. This was primarily due to different paths for the relative price paid to rent high-skilled human capital in the two countries, rather than differences in relative quantities.
Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch ge... more Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your personal and scholarly purposes. You are not to copy documents for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence.
Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique
Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch ge... more Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.
Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique
Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch ge... more Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.
Journal of Human Resources
University of Western Ontario Cibc Centre For Human Capital and Productivity Working Papers, 2006
Recent immigration appears to be characterized by frequent return and onward migration. This has ... more Recent immigration appears to be characterized by frequent return and onward migration. This has important consequences for the contribution of immigrants to the economy of the host country. Lack of longitudinal data has prevented much analysis of whether recent international migration is more like internal migration and not a once-for-all move with a possible return should the move prove to have been a mistake. A newly available longitudinal data set covering all immigrants to Canada since 1980 provides the opportunity to address the issues raised by the new migration. The results show that a large fraction of male immigrants who are working age, especially among skilled workers and entrepreneurs, are highly internationally mobile.
Journal of Labor Economics, 2002
A substantial literature has developed to estimate the &a... more A substantial literature has developed to estimate the "true" cyclicality of real wages, that is, composition bias free. Two major issues are addressed in this article: aggregation of heterogeneous workers and potential bias in the measurement of the labor input. A general analysis of the biases is presented, and alternative approaches in the literature are nested in a single framework.
A large literature studies the wage consequences of over-education" in the sense of a worker, by ... more A large literature studies the wage consequences of over-education" in the sense of a worker, by some measure, having a higher level of education than is required for the job. We use unique new data to reexamine the common interpretation that initial over-education represents a harmful type of mismatch that arises due to information induced frictions. We contrast this with the alternative that college graduates are heterogeneous with respect to their human capital and that the labor market is appropriately allocating them to jobs, even when many are observed starting in jobs that do not require a college degree.
Separate identification of the price and quantity of human capital has important implications for... more Separate identification of the price and quantity of human capital has important implications for understanding key issues in economics. Price and quantity series are derived for four education levels. The price series are highly correlated and they exhibit a strong secular trend. Three resulting implications are explored: the rising college premium is found to be driven more by relative quantity than relative price changes, life-cycle wage profiles are readily interpretable as reflecting optimal human capital investment paths using the estimated price series, and adjusting the labor input for quality increases dramatically reduces the contribution of MFP to growth.
Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, 2015
This paper reviews the most important scientific and policy research in the area of human capital... more This paper reviews the most important scientific and policy research in the area of human capital, education achievement and learning and discusses the need for a new nationally representative household panel for the United States to provide the research resources necessary to keep the United States at the forefront of scientific and policy research in this area. Excellent panel data incorporating recent advances in panel design and innovative measures are required for addressing the most important policy issues.
Separate identification of the price and quantity of human capital has important implications for... more Separate identification of the price and quantity of human capital has important implications for understanding key issues in labor economics and macroeconomics. Price and quantity series are derived and subjected to robustness checks. The human capital price series associated with different education levels are highly correlated and exhibit a strong secular trend. Three resulting implications are explored: (1) using the derived quantities life-cycle profiles are reexamined ; (2) the rising college premium is reinterpreted and found to be mainly driven by relative quantity changes, and (3) adjusting the labor input for quality increases dramatically reduces the contribution of MFP to growth.
In the last three decades, Canada and the US showed different paths in per capita GDP growth, ski... more In the last three decades, Canada and the US showed different paths in per capita GDP growth, skill premiums and inequality. Both firm and worker productivity differences play a role and have different policy implications, but are difficult to distinguish. To examine separate firm and worker productivity effects, human capital prices and quantities are estimated using the methods developed in Bowlus and Robinson (2012). The quantities reflect worker productivity while the prices tend to reflect firm productivity. In the US there was faster growth and a much more rapid rise in skill premia and inequality. This was primarily due to different paths for the relative price paid to rent high skilled human capital in the two countries, rather than differences in relative quantities of human capital supplied by the typical high skilled worker. Worker productivity increased for high skilled workers, but decreased for low skilled workers over the 1980-2000 period.
The data for the analysis come from the March Current Population Surveys (MCPS). A consistent and... more The data for the analysis come from the March Current Population Surveys (MCPS). A consistent and annotated version of the files from UNICON was used as the data source. In this Appendix these data are described with particular reference to issues of data quality and comparability over time in Sections A1-3. Section A4 documents the robustness of the flat spot estimates presented in Figure 3, and Section A5 presents the alternative standard unit estimates for the dropouts.
In this paper new estimates of human capital prices and quantities, taking into account technolog... more In this paper new estimates of human capital prices and quantities, taking into account technological change in human capital production and endogenous education choice, are presented for both Canada and the United States. The implications of the estimates for the sources of growth are examined. The most striking result is that adjusting the labour input for quality increases reduces the contribution of MFP growth in standard of living growth to zero. The largest part of this quality increase is not due to composition changes but instead to technological change in human capital production. Since most attempts at adjusting the labour input for quality changes only deal with composition, they cannot capture a large part of the quality change. The results suggest that technological improvement in human capital production could be the major source of standard of living growth in the last few decades. Audra Bowlus*, Haoming Liu** and Chris Robinson* *University of Western Ontario **Natio...
Direction Des Etudes Analytiques Documents De Recherche, 2006
The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, 2016
The evolution of human capital over the life-cycle, especially during the accumulation phase, has... more The evolution of human capital over the life-cycle, especially during the accumulation phase, has been extensively studied within an optimal human capital investment framework. Given the ageing of the workforce, there is increasing interest in the human capital of older workers. The most recent research on wage patterns has adopted a new multidimensional skills/tasks approach. We argue that this approach is also well suited to the investigation of the evolution of the human capital of older workers. There is clear evidence that the typical concave Ben-Porath shape for a wage based single dimension human capital measure masks different shapes for the individual components in a multidimensional skill portfolio. Not all components evolve in the same way over the life-cycle. Some components of the skill vector are particularly sensitive to ageing effects for older workers, but this sensitivity is underestimated using occupation level rather than individual level skill observations. The evidence suggests that workers can and do adjust their skill portfolios in various ways as they approach retirement and that the decline in skills is not purely driven by selection.
RCER Working Papers, 1989
By Glenn MacDonald and Chris M. Robinson; NEW PREDICTIONS FROM THE ECONOMICS OF UNIONISM.
Journal of Labor Economics, 2019
In the last three decades, Canada and the United States showed different paths in per capita gros... more In the last three decades, Canada and the United States showed different paths in per capita gross domestic product growth, skill premiums, and inequality. Worker quality and price differences both play a role but are difficult to distinguish. Human capital prices and quantities are estimated using methods we developed previously. In the United States, there was faster growth and a much more rapid rise in skill premia and inequality. This was primarily due to different paths for the relative price paid to rent high-skilled human capital in the two countries, rather than differences in relative quantities.
Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch ge... more Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your personal and scholarly purposes. You are not to copy documents for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence.
Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique
Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch ge... more Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.
Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique
Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch ge... more Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.
Journal of Human Resources
University of Western Ontario Cibc Centre For Human Capital and Productivity Working Papers, 2006
Recent immigration appears to be characterized by frequent return and onward migration. This has ... more Recent immigration appears to be characterized by frequent return and onward migration. This has important consequences for the contribution of immigrants to the economy of the host country. Lack of longitudinal data has prevented much analysis of whether recent international migration is more like internal migration and not a once-for-all move with a possible return should the move prove to have been a mistake. A newly available longitudinal data set covering all immigrants to Canada since 1980 provides the opportunity to address the issues raised by the new migration. The results show that a large fraction of male immigrants who are working age, especially among skilled workers and entrepreneurs, are highly internationally mobile.
Journal of Labor Economics, 2002
A substantial literature has developed to estimate the &a... more A substantial literature has developed to estimate the "true" cyclicality of real wages, that is, composition bias free. Two major issues are addressed in this article: aggregation of heterogeneous workers and potential bias in the measurement of the labor input. A general analysis of the biases is presented, and alternative approaches in the literature are nested in a single framework.