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In dit rapport brengen wij het formele en informele leren en de kennisontwikkeling in Nederland in kaart aan de hand van vier peilingen van de ROA Levenslang Leren Enquête voor de jaren 2004, 2007, 2010 en 2013. Aangezien het monitorgedeelte van de vragenlijst gedurende deze jaren ongewijzigd is gebleven, is het mogelijk om trends en ontwikkelingen in kaart te brengen. Hierbij gaat het om trends over het leren in Nederland alsook over factoren die dit leerproces in positieve dan wel negatieve zin beïnvloeden.

This paper analyzes whether defaults affect the choice for courses followed at work. In addition, we analyze whether the size of the default effect varies with employees’ personality and skill-deficiencies. We perform an experiment in which workers are hypothetically offered three courses which they can accept or exchange for other courses. Randomizing the default package of courses, we identify the default effect. Default courses are chosen approximately three times more often than other courses. They are chosen more often if people have skill-deficiencies in these courses, suggesting that people consider the default to be an advice. Women choose default courses more often than men. Women with less self-confidence and men with lower cognitive skills choose the default courses more often.

Over the past two decades there has been a substantial increase in the mobility of students in Europe, while also research has become much more internationally oriented. In this paper we document changes in the structure of research and higher education in Europe and investigate potential explanations for the strong increase in its international orientation. While higher education started to grow substantially around 1960, only a few decades later, research and higher education transformed gradually to the American standard. Decreased communication costs are likely causes for this trend. This transformation is most clearly revealed in the change of language used in research from the national language, Latin, German and French to English. Smaller language areas made this transformation earlier while there are also clear timing differences between research fields. Sciences and medicine tend to switch to English first, followed by economics and social sciences, while for law and arts only the first signs of such a transformation are currently observed. Th is suggests that returns to scale and the transferability of research results are important influences in the decision to adopt the international standard.

When the costs are decreasing workers adopt technology at the point where the costs equal the increased productivity. Output per worker increases immediately, while productivity benefits increase only gradually if costs continue to fall. As a result, workers in computer-adopting labor market groups experience an immediate fall in wages due to increased supply. On the other hand, adopting workers experience wage increases with some delay. This model explains why increased computer use does not immediately lead to higher wage inequality. More specifically, the results of the model are shown to be consistent with the question why within-group wage inequality among skilled workers as a result of computer technology adoption in the united states increased in the 1970s, while between-group wage inequality and within-group wage inequality among the unskilled did not start to increase until the 1980s. The model also predicts that the more compressed german wage structure leads to a lagged diffusion of computer technology along with smaller changes in wage inequality. Our empirical analysis suggests that this is consistent with the actual developments in germany since the 1980s. Finally, the theoretical predictions seem to be of the right magnitude to explain the empirical quantities observed in the data.

Using cross-section data from the 1997 skills survey of the employed british workforce, we examine the labour-market returns to self-assessed computer skills in britain. Many researchers, using information on computer technology use, have concluded that wage differentials between computer users and non-users might, among others, be due to differences in the embodiment of computer skills. Using unique information on the importance, level of sophistication, and effectiveness of computer technology use, we show that computer skills do not yield significant labour-market returns for most types of use. Examining the returns to computer skills at different levels of sophistication of use yields estimates suggesting returns to computer skills at the highest level of sophistication of use only.

With the growing importance of knowledge, new research questions arise that require more explicit analyses of the way human capital is produced and how it is used in the labour market. In this introduction to this special issue we provide examples of such questions and argue that economics can play an important role in areas traditionally studied by educationalist solely. From this perspective we summarize the six contributions in this special issue.

This paper offers a model of how computer technology has changed the labor market, demonstrating that wage differentials between computer users and non-users are consistent with computers first being introduced in high-wage jobs following cost efficiency. Furthermore, skill upgrading occurs following a reemphasis on non-routine tasks after adoption. The model also reveals that neither differences in computer skills nor complementary skills are needed to explain wage differentials between users and non-users, skill upgrading, and the changing organization and intensity of work. Finally, the predicted effects on the wage structure are consistent with empirical evidence.

The large increase in computer use has raised the question whether people have to be taught computer skills before entering the labour market. Using data from the 1997 skills survey of the employed british workforce, we argue that neither the increase in computer use nor the fact that particularly higher skilled workers use a computer provides evidence that computer skills are valuable. We compare computer skills with writing and math skills and test whether wages vary with computer skills, given the specific use that is made of computers. The regression results show that while the ability to write documents and to carry out mathematical analyses yields significant labour-market returns, the ability to effectively use a computer has no substantial impact on wages. These estimates suggest that writing and math can be regarded as basic skills, but that the higher wages of computer users are unrelated to computer skills.