May 31, 2011 - March 31, 2013

2011

The efficient allocation of human resources within a firm plays a key role for realizing productivity improvements in the Japanese economy, where labor mobility across firms is known to be low. Japanese firms have designed HR systems to reduce inefficiencies arising from information asymmetries between the firm and workers and difficulties in writing a complete contract. Previous studies report several features of such HR systems based on case studies gathered though workplace interviews and survey questionnaires. Theoretical models have also been developed to explain the stylized facts. The quantitative evaluation of the impacts of HR systems on outcomes, however, has been limited largely due to a lack of data. This project will fill such literature void by econometrically testing theories based on a large amount of proprietary HR data from several firms.