American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Knowledge Spillovers, Competition, and Individual Careers
American Economic Review
(pp. 3910–41)
Abstract
Exposure to better peers in the workplace can influence career trajectories through two opposing channels: positively, via knowledge spillovers, and negatively, through competition for advancement. We disentangle these effects by studying untrained labor market entrants and distinguishing between coworkers in the same occupation with whom they are likely to compete versus those with whom they are unlikely to compete. We find robust evidence of persistent knowledge spillovers but also identify countervailing competition effects of comparable magnitude. Both effects are more pronounced for men than for women.Citation
Cornelissen, Thomas, Christian Dustmann, and Uta Schönberg. 2026. "Knowledge Spillovers, Competition, and Individual Careers." American Economic Review 116 (10): 3910–41. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20230714Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- M53 Personnel Economics: Training
- M54 Personnel Economics: Labor Management
- O33 Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes