Working Paper: NBER ID: w25179
Authors: 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.
Keywords: Human Capital; Learning; Labor Market; Coworkers; Team Production
JEL Codes: E24; J24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| coworker human capital (J24) | individual human capital accumulation (J24) |
| higher human capital coworkers (J24) | individual human capital accumulation (J24) |
| less knowledgeable coworkers (C92) | individual human capital accumulation (J24) |
| positive sorting (C69) | exposure to knowledgeable coworkers (C92) |
| exposure to knowledgeable coworkers (C92) | overall stock of human capital (J24) |
| overall stock of human capital (J24) | output (C67) |