This paper studies the link between lateral mobility and promotions. The first part of the paper extends the theoretical literature by incorporating lateral moves into a job assignment model with task-specific human capital accumulation. The model thus predicts that workers who are laterally moved in one period are more likely to be subsequently promoted and experience larger wage growth compared with workers who are not laterally moved. In addition, workers with very high levels of education are less likely to be laterally moved compared with workers with lower levels of education. We test the model’s predictions using a large employer–employee linked panel dataset on senior managers in a sample of large US firms during the period 1981 to 1985. Our findings support the theoretical predictions and show the importance of lateral mobility in wage and promotion dynamics.

中文翻译：

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横向移动，晋升和特定于任务的人力资本：理论和证据

本文研究了横向移动性与晋升之间的联系。本文的第一部分通过将横向移动纳入具有特定任务的人力资本积累的工作分配模型来扩展理论文献。因此，该模型预测，与未横向移动的工人相比，在一个时期内横向移动的工人更有可能随后得到晋升并经历较大的工资增长。此外，受教育水平较高的工人与受教育水平较低的工人相比，不太可能横向移动。在1981年至1985年期间，我们使用大型雇主-雇员链接的面板数据集对高级经理进行了模型检验，以对高级经理人进行测试。