abstract: 'Skill specificity is thought to increase preferences for social

  insurance (Iversen and Soskice, 2001, American Political Science Review

  95,875), especially where employment protections are low, notably the

  United States (Gingrich and Ansell, 2012, Comparative Political Studies

  45, 1624). The compensating differentials literature, by contrast,

  suggests that neither skill specificity, nor labor market protections

  affect preferences when wages adjust for differences in risks and

  investment costs. We examine these competing predictions using U.S. data

  on general and specific skills. Absolute and relative skill specificity

  have a robust positive correlation with income, but are negatively

  correlated with preferences for social protection. Our results strongly

  support the compensating differentials approach.'
affiliation: 'Timmons, JF (Corresponding Author), IE Univ, IE Business Sch, Calle
  Alvarez de Baena 4,1, Madrid 28006, Spain.

  Timmons, Jeffrey F., IE Univ, Madrid 28006, Spain.'
author: Timmons, Jeffrey F. and Nickelsburg, Jerry
author-email: jeffrey.timmons@ie.edu
author_list:
- family: Timmons
  given: Jeffrey F.
- family: Nickelsburg
  given: Jerry
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1111/ecpo.12043
eissn: 1468-0343
files: []
issn: 0954-1985
journal: ECONOMICS \& POLITICS
keywords-plus: 'POLICY PREFERENCES; OCCUPATIONAL TITLES; REDISTRIBUTION; INEQUALITY;

  DICTIONARY; RETURNS; DEMAND; MARKET; RISKS; WAGES'
language: English
month: NOV
number: '3'
number-of-cited-references: '41'
pages: 457-482
papis_id: 91fde7e81ab6253bad3d483abf8cef85
ref: Timmons2014dopeople
times-cited: '0'
title: DO PEOPLE WITH SPECIFIC SKILLS WANT MORE SOCIAL INSURANCE? NOT IN THE UNITED
  STATES
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000343869300005
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '16'
volume: '26'
web-of-science-categories: Economics; Political Science
year: '2014'