American Economic Journal:
Microeconomics
ISSN 1945-7669 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7685 (Online)
Job Insecurity
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics
vol. 12,
no. 2, May 2020
(pp. 188–229)
Abstract
We examine the relationship between job security and productivity in a fixed wage worker-firm relationship facing match quality uncertainty. The worker's action affects both learning and current productivity. The firm, seeing worker behavior and outcomes, makes a firing decision. As bad news accrues, the firm cannot commit to retain the worker. This creates perverse incentives: the worker strategically slows learning, harming productivity. We fully characterize the unique equilibrium in our continuous-time game. Consistent with some evidence in organizational psychology, the relationship between job insecurity and productivity is U-shaped: a worker is least productive when his job is moderately secure.Citation
Kuvalekar, Aditya, and Elliot Lipnowski. 2020. "Job Insecurity." American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 12 (2): 188–229. DOI: 10.1257/mic.20190132Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- J23 Labor Demand
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- J63 Labor Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
- M51 Personnel Economics: Firm Employment Decisions; Promotions
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