In this paper, we examine optimal job choices when jobs differ in the rate at which they reveal information about workers’ skills. We show that informational differences across jobs give rise to experimentation in that workers may be willing to sacrifice current period output in order to take...

In this article, we examine optimal job choices when jobs differ in the rate at which they reveal information about workers’ skills. We then analyze how the optimal level of experimentation changes over a worker’s career and characterize job transitions and wage growth over the life cycle....

Workers typically perform a variety jobs over the course of their careers in firms. These jobs differ in the skills they require and, thus, may convey different amounts of information about worker ability. In this paper, we develop a theory of learning and job design, and empirically test this...

Models of dynastic households have been traditionally used to analyze persistence in earnings and wealth across generations, more recently to study patterns of wealth and fertility, transfers to children and education choices. Using data of two generations from the PSID, this paper develops and...

We consider the role of product market competition in disciplining managers in a moral hazard setting. Competition has two effects on a firm. First, the expected revenue or the marginal benefit of effort declines, leading to weakly lower effort. Second, the cost of inducing high effort increases...

Less than 10 percent of executives in large publicly traded firms are women. On average female executives earn less than male executives, and hold less senior positions. They retire earlier. This paper is an empirical study of these differences based on panel of about 2,500 firms and 16,000...

Fewer women than men become executive managers. They earn less, hold more junior positions, and attrit faster. We compiled a large panel data set on executives and formed a career hierarchy to analyze promotion and compensation rates. Given executive rank and background, women are paid more than...