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Author: Savage, Timothy Howard
Resulting in 2 citations.
1. Mroz, Thomas
Savage, Timothy Howard
The Long-Term Effects of Youth Unemployment
The Journal of Human Resources 41,2 (Spring 2006): 259-293.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40057276
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Keyword(s): Human Capital; Labor Market Outcomes; Unemployment; Youth Problems

Using NLSY data, we examine the long-term effect of youth unemployment on later labor market outcomes. Involuntary unemployment may yield sub-optimal investments in human capital in the short run. A theoretical model of dynamic human capital investment predicts a rational "catch-up" response. Using semiparametric techniques to control for the endogeneity of prior behavior, our estimates provide strong evidence of this response. We also find evidence of persistence in unemployment. Combining our semiparametric estimates with a dynamic approximation to the lifecycle, we find that unemployment experienced as long ago as ten years continues to affect earnings adversely despite the catch-up response.
Bibliography Citation
Mroz, Thomas and Timothy Howard Savage. "The Long-Term Effects of Youth Unemployment." The Journal of Human Resources 41,2 (Spring 2006): 259-293.
2. Savage, Timothy Howard
The Long-Term Effects of Youth Unemployment
Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1999
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning
Keyword(s): Endogeneity; Human Capital; Labor Market Outcomes; Legislation; Training; Unemployment, Youth; Vocational Training

Most analyses of the potential adverse impacts of labor market legislation focus primarily on contemporaneous employment effects. Particularly for young people, such a focus might be quite shortsighted. Using a sample of young men from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), this research presents policy-relevant results on the long-term impacts of youth unemployment on later labor market outcomes. It examines whether there are any substantial adverse effects on a number of different outcomes, including training and earnings. The existing youth labor market literature provides little guidance about the magnitude and duration of these effects. A spell of involuntary unemployment can lead to sub-optimal investments in human capital among young people in the short run. A theoretical model of dynamic human capital investment and accumulation predicts a rational "catch-up" response to such a spell. Using semiparametric estimation techniques, the empirical results control extensively for the endogeneity of prior unemployment and unobserved heterogeneity. These results provide strong evidence of a catch-up response. I find that an unemployment spell experienced today increases the likelihood of undertaking vocational training in the near future. It also increases for many years to come the likelihood of working and the amount of time spent working among those who work. This evidence is entirely new to the literature. Unlike much of the literature, however, I find evidence of short-lived persistence in unemployment after controlling for the endogeneity of prior unemployment. Unemployment experienced this year increases the likelihood that unemployment is experienced in the near future and lengthens the duration of future spells. Finally, I find the negative effect of prior unemployment on earnings is mitigated over time as a result of the catch-up response. The theoretical model exactly predicts that this will happen. Controlling for the observed human capi tal stock, 13 weeks of unemployment experienced last year reduces average hourly earnings by 4.7 percent. A similar spell experienced four years ago, however, reduces them by only 1.3 percent. Dynamic simulations show that the adverse impacts from a large exogenous labor market shock experienced at age 22 have largely dissipated by age 27.
Bibliography Citation
Savage, Timothy Howard. The Long-Term Effects of Youth Unemployment. Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1999.