The Shrinking of Middle Management

Abstract

We analyse a model in which (1) managers require experience in order to be productive; (2) providing managers with experience is costly and noncontractible. We demonstrate that if there is an increase in the mobility of managers, there may be a free-riding problem, in that each firm has too little incentive to give managers experience. Surprisingly, welfare may be higher in the state of the world with more mobility. We explore individual managers’ incentives to invest in generalizing their skills to improve their mobility.

Keywords: General skills, experience, mobility, wage bargaining, managers

JEL Classification: L20, J24, J60