Ageing, Productivity, and Earnings : Econometric and Behavioural Evidence.

Summary For firms concerned with the phenomenon of aging, the relationship between the age structure of the workforce and the wage and productivity profiles is a key element addressed in this thesis. The first chapter reviews various theoretical concepts and describes the empirical results with respect to the wage and productivity profile as a function of age. The empirical study presented in Chapter Two assesses the marginal productivity profile by age. We consider the labor force by both skill (low-skilled, high-skilled) and age (young, middle-aged, old). We estimate, on French firm data, a nested CES production function that allows for imperfect substitution between different categories of workers. Among the main results, we find that labor productivity by age depends strongly on the workers' skill category and industry. Chapter three analyzes the behavior of juniors and seniors, in particular their attitudes towards risk, self-confidence and propensity to compete. For this purpose, we conducted an experiment with Swiss bankers. We find that, although the two generations do not differ significantly in their attitudes towards risk and ambiguity, the seniors show a higher propensity to compete. This decision is clearly influenced by information about the age of other participants. Furthermore, both generations maximize their profits in age-balanced groups.