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KDI 경제교육·정보센터

ENG
  • 경제배움
  • Economic

    Information

    and Education

    Center

전망·동향
The Human Capital Production Function: New Estimates and Implications for Labor Supply and Taxes
NBER
2026.09.04
This paper estimates a learning-by-doing human-capital production function in which hours affect both current productivity and future human capital. We show that the standard Ben-Porath specification is weakly identified: its objective function is nearly flat along a ridge in parameter space, undermining conventional inference. We develop a flexible sieve alternative that is well-identified, and estimate a concave hours technology using PSID data. Embedding this technology in a life-cycle model, we find very small prime-age labor-supply responses to temporary wage shocks. Despite these low elasticities, optimal labor-income taxes are flat because they distort both current labor supply and future human-capital accumulation.