Miana Plesca
Professor
Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics, Department of Economics & Finance
About
Biography
Areas of Specialization: Labour Economics, Program Evaluation
Miana Plesca joined the Department of Economics at the University of Guelph in 2003. She received her B.A. (Computer Science) from Technical University of Cluj, Romania in 1994, an M.A. (Econ) from Georgetown University in 1999, and a Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario in 2005. Her main research interests are in labour economics. In particular, she has studied the methodology of evaluating training and re-employment programs; the general equilibrium effects the US Employment Service; the effects of occupational mobility on understanding the returns to employer- and government-sponsored training; the effects of aggregate and sectoral fluctuations on firms' training decision; as well as the returns to post-secondary education.
Research Interests
Areas of Specialization: Labour Economics, Program Evaluation
Dr. Miana Plesca is an associate professor in the Department of Economics and Finance, specializing in labour economics. Her work encompasses a wide range of topics, including the methodology of evaluating training and re-employment programs, the effects of occupational mobility on understanding the returns to training, and the impacts of aggregate and sectoral fluctuations on firms' training decisions. Additionally, she has delved into examining the returns to post-secondary education, shedding light on its significance in the labor market.
Dr. Plesca's recent research, co-authored with Fraser Summerfield, a former Guelph Ph.D. Student, titled “The Productivity Benefits of Overeducation”, published in the Journal of Human Capital, investigates the productivity benefits of overeducation, an issue with implications for labor productivity and public discourse. Using Canadian data spanning 1997 to 2015, her study extends existing literature by exploring productivity-enhancing effects across provinces and industries. Employing dynamic panel models with external instruments, her findings reveal that productivity increases by approximately 3% for each 1% increase in overeducation shares. Notably, these effects are most pronounced in industries with greater intangible capital investment or a higher demand for university-educated jobs, as well as among employees in small firms that are not unionized.
By elucidating the positive impacts of overeducation on productivity, Dr. Plesca's research contributes valuable insights to the understanding of labor market dynamics and underscores the benefits of post-secondary education.
Plesca, M., & Summerfield, F. (2023). The Productivity Benefits of Overeducation. Journal of Human Capital, 17(4), 463-502. https://doi.org/10.1086/726630.
Publications
Miana Plesca's working papers and publications are available at:
- RePEc (Research Papers in Economics): https://ideas.repec.org/e/ppl22.html#works
- Her personal website - https://sites.google.com/site/miplesca