Productivity and age: Evidence from work teams at the assembly line
(Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging)
Axel Börsch-Supan† and Matthias Weiss, Full version, January 19, 2011
Abstract
We study the relation between workers’ age and their productivity in work teams, based on a new and unique data set that combines data on errors occurring in the production process of a large car manufacturer with detailed information on the personal characteristics of workers re-lated to the errors. We correct for non-random sample selection and the potential endogeneity of the age-composition in work teams. Our results suggest that productivity does not decline at least up to age 60.
http://www.mea.uni-mannheim.de/uploads/user_mea_discussionpapers/1057_MEA-DP_148-2007.pdf