, estimated directly from data, as well as heterogeneity in ability to learn, initial human capital, and initial wealth … in initial conditions account for more of the variation in lifetime utility, lifetime earnings and lifetime wealth than … substantially more important than variation in learning ability or initial wealth for determining how an agent fares in life. An …

Over the last twenty years the wage-education relationships in the US and Germany have evolved very differently, while … files from the PSID (US) and the GSOEP (Germany), we demonstrate how factor movements within these countries are associated … capital over the 1979-96 period, while Germany accumulated factors in a more balanced manner …

human capital plays in this relationship using a rich, worker-level, longitudinal data set from Germany spanning 1976 to …

the range of 10 to 15 percent. We find no return to compulsory schooling in Germany in terms of higher wages. We … investigate whether this is due to labor market institutions or the existence of the apprenticeship training system in Germany … most relevant for the labor market are learned earlier in Germany than in other countries …