CAREER: Using Field Experiments to Identify Barriers to Labor Market Success and Human Capital Accumulation

摘要：通过实地实验，找出劳动力市场成功和人力资本积累的障碍本项目旨在找出阻碍劳动者在劳动力市场成功的障碍，特别是阻碍劳动者向潜在雇主展示技能的障碍和阻碍劳动者获得重要技能的障碍。第一个项目研究了新进入劳动力市场的人面临的第22条军规：他们很难在没有工作经验的情况下找到工作，但也很难在没有工作经验的情况下获得经验。该项目测试向雇主提供更多关于工人能力的信息是否可以通过使雇主更愿意雇用他们来改善他们的劳动力市场结果。第二个项目研究了失业工人面临的第22条军规。由于雇主将失业作为工人能力的不利信号，工人失业的时间越长，他们就越难找到工作。该项目测试帮助工人通过短期兼职或志愿服务填补简历空白是否可以改善他们的劳动力市场结果。前两个项目测试的是劳动力市场中信息壁垒的重要性，第三个项目测试的是简单的资源壁垒的重要性。尽管高级高中课程与更好的后续结果有关，但许多低收入高中学生在高中无法进入高级课程。在线课程已被提议作为填补这一资源缺口的一种方式。该项目旨在研究为学生提供高级在线课程是否可以改善他们随后的教育成果。它还分析了这些在线课程的效果如何与相同课程的面对面版本的效果进行比较。这个议程的智力价值在于应用严格的实验证据来回答这些问题。所有这三个项目都利用随机实地实验。这些项目应该提高我们对劳动力市场和教育环境的理解。例如，关于雇主了解工人能力的理论文献很长，但关于不同信号如何影响雇主信念和工人成果的经验证据较少。同样，对于网课能否提升学生获得高质量教育的能力，也有很多猜测，但关于这个话题的实证却较少。这一议程的更广泛影响在于确定可以改善弱势群体劳动力市场结果的政策和做法。这一议程的一个优先事项是向从业人员和决策者传播研究成果，并培训学生进行高质量的研究。

Abstract: Using Field Experiments to Identify Barriers to Labor Market Success and Human Capital AccumulationThis project aims to identify barriers preventing workers from succeeding in the labor market: in particular, barriers that prevent workers from demonstrating their skills to potential employers and barriers that prevent workers from gaining important skills. The first project examines a Catch 22 that new labor market entrants face: it's difficult for them to get a job without prior experience, but it's difficult to get experience without a prior job. This project tests whether providing more information to employers about workers' aptitudes can improve their labor market outcomes by making employers more willing to hire them. The second project examines a Catch 22 that displaced workers face. Because employers use unemployment as an adverse signal of worker ability, the longer workers are out of work, the harder it becomes for them to find a job. This project tests whether helping workers fill in their resume gaps with short-term, part-time employment or volunteering can improve their labor market outcomes. While the first two projects test for the importance of information barriers in labor markets, the third tests the importance of a simple resource barrier. Despite the fact that advanced high school classes have been linked to better subsequent outcomes, many low-income high school students do not have access to advanced classes at their high schools. Online classes have been proposed as one way to fill this resource gap. This project examines whether providing students with access to advanced online classes can improve their subsequent educational outcomes. It also analyzes how the effects of these online classes compare to the effects of in-person versions of the same classes.The intellectual merit of this agenda lies in applying rigorous experimental evidence to answer these questions. All three projects utilize randomized field experiments. These projects should improve our understanding of labor markets and educational settings. For example, there is a long theoretical literature on employer learning about worker abilities, but less empirical evidence on how different signals affect employers' beliefs and worker outcomes. Similarly, there is a lot of speculation about the ability of online classes to improve students' access to high-quality education, but less empirical evidence on this topic. The broader impacts of this agenda lie in identifying policies and practices that can improve the labor market outcomes of disadvantaged groups. A priority of this agenda is to disseminate the results of the research to practitioners and policy-makers and to train students to conduct high-quality research.