Employment Testing and Incentives to Learn

Abstract

Employment tests predict job performance because they measure or are correlated with a large set of malleable developed abilities which are causally related to productivity. Our economy currently under-rewards the achievements that are measured by these tests. Consequently, economic incentives to study hard in high school are minimal and this absence of incentives has contributed to the low levels of achievement in math and science. The paper concludes with a discussion of ways in which employment tests can strengthen incentives to learn.