The Next Generation of Empirical Labor Economics

This chapter provides an overview of the development of empirical labor economics following the credibility revolutionCredibility revolution in the late 1980s. The development is examined from three distinct perspectives: the availability of data, the advancement of econometric methods, and the evolution of prominent research topics. Within this review, special emphasis is placed on the Japanese context. It is argued that certain topics relevant to the traditional research areas of the Japanese economy may experience a resurgence due to the accessibility of new data sets and advancements in econometric techniques. An illustrative example of this resurgence can be seen in the study of internal labor markets and their relationship with Japanese employment practices, particularly in the context of rapid technological progress.