Working to learn

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Economic Theory
Year: 2021
Volume: 197
Issue: C

Authors (3)

Fudenberg, Drew (Massachusetts Institute of Tec...) Georgiadis, George (not in RePEc) Rayo, Luis (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

1.341 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We study the joint determination of wages, effort, and training in “apprenticeships” where novices must work in order to learn. We introduce the idea of learning-by-doing as an inequality constraint, which allows masters to strategically slow training down. Every Pareto-efficient contract has an initial phase where the novice learns as fast as technologically feasible, followed by a phase where their master constrains how fast they learn. This latter phase mitigates the novice's commitment problem, and thus lets the novice consume more than they produce early on in the relationship. Our model has novel implications for optimal regulation.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:jetheo:v:197:y:2021:i:c:s0022053121001642
Journal Field
Theory
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25