Are Courses Chosen to Reduce Skill-Deficiences? An Experimental Approach

Do people choose courses to reduce work-related skill-deficiencies, and do theychoose courses deliberately? We measure the skill-deficiency for six skills andperform an experiment in which workers are offered three courses related tothese skills. They may exchange these courses for other courses. Randomizingthe default package of courses, we identify the deliberateness of their choice.We find that people choose the default courses more often, especially whenthese match their skill-deficiencies. When workers make their own choicehowever, they generally do not choose courses with which they can reduce theirskill-shortages. We relate choice behavior to personal characteristics.