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Human Capital Spillovers in the Workplace: Labor Diversity and Productivity

Author

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  • Navon, Guy
Abstract
The paper studies the relationship between human capital spillovers and productivity using a unique longitudinal matched employer–employee dataset of Israeli manufacturing plants that contains individual records on all plant employees. I focus on the within-plant diversity of employees’ higher-education diplomas (university degrees). The variance decomposition shows that most knowledge diversity takes place within the industries. Using a semi-parametric approach, the study finds that hiring workers who are diversified in their specific knowledge is beneficial for plants’ productivity—the knowledge-diversity elasticity is about 0.2–0.25 and is robust—and that the benefit of knowledge diversity increase with the size of the plant. This suggests that for each allocation of labor in the production process it is beneficial for plants to diversify their skilled labor. The findings also suggest that the conventional way of estimating plant-level production function using Ordinary Least Squares or Fixed-Effects method is biased upward due to simultaneity of the inputs and the unobserved productivity shock.

Suggested Citation

  • Navon, Guy, 2009. "Human Capital Spillovers in the Workplace: Labor Diversity and Productivity," MPRA Paper 17741, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:17741
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Andrea Garnero & Stephan Kampelmann & François Rycx, 2014. "The Heterogeneous Effects of Workforce Diversity on Productivity, Wages, and Profits," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 430-477, July.
    2. Ryusuke Ihara & Shizu Yamamoto, 2012. "Does labor diversity cause agglomeration in Japan?: an NEG approach with a covariance structure analysis," ERSA conference papers ersa12p430, European Regional Science Association.
    3. Nikolaj Malchow‐Møller & Jakob Roland Munch & Jan Rose Skaksen, 2019. "Do Foreign Experts Increase the Productivity of Domestic Firms?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 121(2), pages 517-546, April.
    4. Parrotta, Pierpaolo & Pozzoli, Dario & Pytlikova, Mariola, 2014. "Labor diversity and firm productivity," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 144-179.
    5. Bentsen, Kristian Hedeager & Munch, Jakob R. & Schaur, Georg, 2019. "Education spillovers within the workplace," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 57-59.
    6. Ceren Ozgen & Thomas de Graff, 2013. "Sorting out the impact of cultural diversity on innovative firms. An empirical analysis of Dutch micro-data," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2013012, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    7. Andrea Garnero, 2015. "Workforce diversity, productivity and wages in France: the role of managers vs. the proprietary structure of the firm," Working Papers CEB 15-039, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    8. Pekka Ilmakunnas & Seija Ilmakunnas, 2011. "Diversity at the Workplace: Whom Does it Benefit?," De Economist, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 223-255, June.
    9. Parrotta, Pierpaolo & Pozzoli, Dario & Pytlikova, Mariola, 2010. "Does Labor Diversity Affect Firm Productivity?," Working Papers 10-12, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Economics.
    10. Marcos E. Domínguez Viera, 2011. "Does the Impact of Oportunidades Program Increases in Highly Competitive Regions?," Ensayos Revista de Economia, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Facultad de Economia, vol. 0(2), pages 79-111, November.
    11. IHARA Ryusuke, 2018. "Heterogeneous Labor and Agglomeration over Generations," Discussion papers 18038, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    human capital; spillovers; within; firm; plant; guy; navon; pakes; levinsohn; petrin; poi; olley;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • J82 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Labor Force Composition

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