What Can International Cricket Teach Us About the Role of Luck in Labor Markets?
Electronic Access:
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Summary:
How important is luck in determining labor market outcomes? We address this question using a new dataset of all international test cricketers who debuted between 1950 and 1985. We present evidence that a player’s debut performance is strongly affected by an exogenous source of variation: whether the debut series is played at home or abroad. This allows us to identify the role of luck - factors unrelated to ability - in shaping future career outcomes. We find that players lucky enough to debut at home perform significantly better on debut. Moreover, debut performance has a large and persistent impact on long run career outcomes. We also make headway in empirically distinguishing between competing explanations for why exogenous initial conditions exercise a persistent impact on career performance
Series:
Working Paper No. 2010/225
Subject:
Capital accumulation Human capital Job search and matching assistance Labor Labor markets National accounts Taxes Value-added tax
English
Publication Date:
October 1, 2010
ISBN/ISSN:
9781455208906/1018-5941
Stock No:
WPIEA2010225
Pages:
29
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