Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/223270 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
IFS Working Papers No. W19/26
Publisher: 
Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), London
Abstract: 
Postgraduate degree holders experience lower cyclical wage variation than those with undergraduate degrees. Moreover, postgraduates have more specific human capital than undergraduates. Using an equilibrium search model with long-term contracts and imperfect monitoring of worker effort, this paper attributes the cyclicality of the postgraduate-undergraduate wage gap to the differences in specific capital. Imperfect monitoring creates a moral hazard problem that requires firms to pay efficiency wages. More specific capital leads to lower mobility, thereby alleviating the moral hazard and improving risk-sharing. Estimates reveal that specific capital explains the differences both in labour turnover and in wage cyclicality across education groups.
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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