The Role of Comparative Advantage and Learning in Wage Dynamics and Intrafirm Mobility: Evidence from Germany
利用德国社会经济面板数据，研究基于比较优势和能力学习的岗位分配如何解释公司内部的工资和流动动态，发现非随机分配和未观测能力在高层级岗位中更重要。
This article measures the importance of job level assignment based on comparative advantage and learning about workers' ability in explaining intrafirm wage and mobility dynamics using survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel. The results reveal the importance of nonrandom selection of workers into the rungs of the firm's job ladder. Measured and unmeasured ability play important roles in workers' rank assignment, with unmeasured ability being more important at higher levels of the hierarchical job structure. There is some evidence of learning effects for workers below age 35 generating mobility between upper and executive levels.