Job Market Signaling

Details

Photo

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Name

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Authors

Michael Spence

Year

1973

Field

Microeconomics / labor

One big idea

Education can function less as skill-building and more as a costly signal that separates high- and low-productivity workers.

My take

Every time I’m grinding a gen-ed that teaches nothing new, I just whisper “it’s a signal, it’s a signal” and keep going.