Data and Code for: Human Capital Depreciation and Returns to Experience

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Michael Dinerstein, University of Chicago; Rigissa Megalokonomou, University of Queensland; Constantine Yannelis, University of Chicago. Booth School of Business

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
2003			03/24/2022 04:59:PM
2004			03/24/2022 04:59:PM
2005			03/24/2022 05:00:PM
2006			03/24/2022 05:01:PM
2007			03/24/2022 05:03:PM
2008			03/24/2022 05:04:PM
2009			03/24/2022 05:06:PM
2010			03/24/2022 05:08:PM
2011			03/24/2022 05:11:PM
2012			03/24/2022 05:13:PM

Project Description

Summary: Human capital can depreciate if skills are unused. But estimating human capital depreciation is challenging, as worker skills are difficult to measure and less productive workers are more likely to spend time in non-employment. We overcome these challenges with new administrative data on teachers' assignments and their students' outcomes, and quasi-random variation from the teacher assignment process in Greece. We find significant losses to output, as a one-year increase in time without formal employment lowers students' test scores by 0.05 standard deviations. Using a simple production model, we estimate a skill depreciation rate of 4.3% and experience returns of 6.8%.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: Human capital; unemployment; education

JEL Classification:
      E24 Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
      I28 Education: Government Policy
      J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

Geographic Coverage: Greece

Universe: All teachers and students in public high schools in Greece between 2003 and 2011

Data Type(s): administrative records data

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Published Versions

V1 [2022-10-20]

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