Work-education mismatch: An endogenous theory of professionalization
Author(s)
Ghaffarzadegan, Navid; Xue, Yi; Larson, Richard Charles
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We model the education-workforce pipeline and offer an endogenous theory of professionalization and ever-higher degree attainment. We introduce two mechanisms that act on the education enterprise, causing the number of educated people to increase dramatically with relatively short-term changes in the job market. Using our illustrative dynamic model, we argue that the system is susceptible to small changes and the introduced self-driving growth engines are adequate to over-incentivize degree attainment. We also show that the mechanisms magnify effects of short-term recessions or technological changes, and create long-term waves of mismatch between workforce and jobs. The implication of the theory is degree inflation, magnified pressures on those with lower degrees, underemployment, and job market mismatch and inefficiency. Keywords: System dynamics; Education policy; Inefficiency; Education mismatch; Public policy
Date issued
2017-03Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Data, Systems, and SocietyJournal
European Journal of Operational Research
Publisher
Elsevier Science Ltd.
Citation
Ghaffarzadegan, Navid et al. "Work-education mismatch: An endogenous theory of professionalization." European Journal of Operational Research, 261, 3 (September 2017): 1085-1097 © 2017 Elsevier B.V.
Version: Author's final manuscript
ISSN
0377-2217
1872-6860
Keywords
Management Science and Operations Research, Modelling and Simulation, Information Systems and Management