🌐ENGLISH

This paper examines the determinants of cross-sectional and lifecycle inequality using a lifecycle earnings process model that incorporates earnings mobility and non-employment risks across birth cohorts and over time. Unobserved skill prices and the variance of individual fixed effects across cohorts are the primary drivers, with unemployment risk being a key determinant of life cycle inequality. To explain the increase in the variance of fixed effects, we interpret these within a Roy model as realized productivity influenced by both ability and task choice. We provide evidence that technological change can amplify inequality by widening the variation in individual productivity, in addition to the standard mechanism that operates through price changes.

This paper studies how sudden losses of experienced older workers affect firm dynamics, using a natural experiment that induced unexpected early retirements. I examine the consequences of this negative labor supply shock for firm behavior, with a focus on capital investment and technology adoption. The findings indicate persistent effects, particularly among smaller firms that struggle to replace experienced older workers and increasingly rely on temporary labor. As a result, these firms reduce investment in capital and are slower to adopt new technologies, including robotics.

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