Can early childhood interventions compensate for innate deficits? In this paper, I study the forced right-hand writing of left-handed children (“switching”). While previous literature has found that, due to innate cognitive deficits, left-handers obtain less human capital and lower wages...

Endogenous, ideas-led growth theory and the literature on agent-based modeling with neighborhood effects are crossed. In an economic overlapping generations framework, it is shown how social interactions and neighborhood effects are of vital importance in the endogenous determination of the long...

This paper seeks to gain insights on the relationship between growth and unemployment, when considering heterogeneous agents in terms of age. We introduce life cycle features in the endogenous job destruction framework à la Mortensen and Pissarides (1998). We show that, under the assumption of...

Recent scientific research indicates that there may have been an extension in physically and cognitively healthy life expectancy. We examine the effects of an extension in healthy life on retirement, education and human capital investment. We find that as life expectancy rises, the proportion of...

We consider the link between parents' influence over the preferences of children, parental investments in children's human capital, and children's support of elderly parents. It may pay for parents to spend resources to "manipulate" children's preferences in order to induce them to support their...

Human capital and deferred compensation might explain why firms employ but do not hire older workers. Adjustments of wage-tenure profiles for older new entrants are explored in the context of deferred compensation. From an equity theory perspective, such adjustments might lead to adverse...

We combine two empirical observations in a general equilibrium occupational choice model. The first is that entrepreneurs have more control than employees over the employment of and accruals from assets, such as human capital. The second observation is that entrepreneurs enjoy higher returns to...

Measuring unobserved individual ability is a core challenge of the analysis of questions related to human capital development. For that purpose, concepts from psychology, predominantly measures of IQ have become established means in empirical economics. However, many issues of individual di...

There is an increasing economic literature considering personality. This paper provides an overview on the role of these skills regarding three main aspects of economic analysis: measurement, theoretical modeling, and empirical estimates. Based on the relevant literature from different...

There is an increasing economic literature considering personality traits as a source of individual differences in labor market productivity and other outcomes. This paper provides an overview on the role of these skills regarding three main aspects: measurement, development over the life...