Human capital embodies the knowledge, skills, health and values that contribute to making people productive. These qualities, however, are hard to measure, and quantitative studies of human capital are typically based on the valuation of the lifetime income that a person generates in the labor...

This paper examines the composition and distribution of total wealth for a cohort of 51 to 61 year olds from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), and the role of pensions in forming retirement wealth. Pension coverage is widespread, covering two thirds of households and accounting for one...

Women born later experience greater earnings growth volatility at given ages than the next older cohort. This alone would imply a welfare loss due to increased earnings risk. However, using German registry data for the years 2001-2016, we document a moderation in higher-order earnings risk: Both...

Women born later experience greater earnings growth volatility at given ages than older cohorts. This implies a welfare loss due to increased earnings risk. However, German registry data for the years 2001-2016 reveal a moderation in higher-order earnings risk: Men and women born later face...

Without long panel structures, the persistence of individual income risks cannot be identified. In this paper, we derive bounds on age-profile persistence levels with short panels where there are only 2-year panel structures. These bounds remarkably capture a low persistence in the early ages...

This paper develops and applies a method for decomposing cross section variability of earnings into components that are forecastable at the time students decide to go to college (heterogeneity) and components that are unforecastable. About 60% of variability in returns to schooling is...

This paper develops and applies a method for decomposing cross section variability of earnings into components that are forecastable at the time students decide to go to college (heterogeneity) and components that are unforecastable. About 60% of variability in returns to schooling is...