New implications of Lazear's skill-weights approach

A new approach to the theory of specific human capital, proposed by Lazear (2009), assumes that all skills are general but that firms use them with different weights attached. In Lazear's analysis, the decision to invest in the worker's acquisition of various skills is assumed to maximize the expected net joint surplus of the worker and the employer. This paper explores new implications of the skill-weights approach when the worker and the firm independently and non-cooperatively invest in the worker's skills.