Career choice under uncertainty

Konferenzbeitrag

Contemporary theoretical literature on occupational choice consists mostly of models that treat choice outcomes as either deterministic or risky. This paper proposes taking a slightly more realistic perspective by constructing a general occupational choice model on the basis of the assumption that outcomes are partially uncertain such that some reward distributions are unknown. The change in perspective yields some major advantages: Learning and career trajectories, which in general cannot be generated by models with deterministic or risky rewards, become a natural feature of the dynamic solution of sequential occupational choice problems. Furthermore, earnings-puzzle-like observations can be explained by sufficiently high uncertainty aversion, as uncertainty aversion has a significant impact on learning. In addition, central model predictions are consistent with data on relative choice frequencies and enterprise death rates.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Beiträge zur Jahrestagung des Vereins für Socialpolitik 2016: Demographischer Wandel - Session: Occupational Choice and Job Mobility: Empirical Evidence ; No. D18-V2

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty ; Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness ; Entrepreneurship

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Konon, Alexander
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft
• (where): Kiel und Hamburg
• (when): 2016

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/145583
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET