The authors provide theoretical and empirical analyses of an asymmetric-information model of layoffs. When firms have discretion with respect to whom to lay off, the market infers that laid-off workers are of low ability. Assuming that no such negative inference is warranted if workers are displaced in a plant closing, postdisplacement wages should be lower and postdisplacement unemployment spells should be longer for those displaced by layoffs than for those displaced by plant closings, but predisplacement wages should not differ by cause of displacement. Evidence on displaced workers from Current Population Surveys supports all three of the model's predictions. Copyright 1991 by University of Chicago Press.
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Volume (Year): 9 (1991) Issue (Month): 4 (October) Pages: 351-80 Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML,
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Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlabec:v:9:y:1991:i:4:p:351-80
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Paper
Robert Gibbons & Lawrence Katz, 1989.
"Layoffs and Lemons,"
Working Papers
629, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
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Gibbons, R. & Katz, L.F., 1989.
"Layoffs And Lemons,"
Working papers
531, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
Robert Gibbons & Lawrence Katz, 1991.
"Layoffs and Lemons,"
NBER Working Papers
2968, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Riordan, Michael H & Staiger, Robert W, 1993.
"Sectoral Shocks and Structural Unemployment,"
International Economic Review,
Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 34(3), pages 611-29, August.
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