Educational Credentials and Trust in the Labor Market
研究了教育文凭在劳动力市场中作为信任信号的作用，发现大企业和高信任行业中文凭与职位等级的关系更强，支持了文凭有助于获得工作机会的论点。
When productivity is costly to measure, employers and employees will establish trust relationships to their mutual benefit. Our thesis is that in such relationships educational credentials are important to get entry to the job. Dutch Labor Force Sample Surveys from 1981 and 1985 are used to estimate the relationship between educational credentials and job level within different firm sizes and different sectors of the economy. We find a stronger relationship within large firms than within small firms and within so called 'high trust' sectors than in 'low trust' sectors. Analyzing the differences between the two periods adds support to our thesis.