Daron Acemoğlu

Why Do Firms Train? Theory and Evidence

This paper offers a theory of training whereby workers do not pay for the general training they receive. The superior information of the current employer regarding its employees...

The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation

We exploit differences in European mortality rates to estimate the effect of institutions on economic performance. Europeans adopted very different colonization policies in diff...

Property Rights, Corruption and the Allocation of Talent: a General Equilibrium Approach

We consider an economy where contracts are necessary to encourage investments. Contract enforcement requires that a fraction of the agents work in the public sector and do not a...

Reward structures and the allocation of talent

Skills, Tasks and Technologies: Implications for Employment and Earnings

Technical Change, Inequality, and the Labor Market

This essay discusses the effect of technical change on wage inequality. I argue that the behavior of wages and returns to schooling indicates that technical change has been skil...