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Declining Search Frictions, Unemployment, and Growth

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  • Paolo Martellini
  • Guido Menzio

Abstract

For a search-theoretic model of the labor market, we seek conditions for the existence of a balanced growth path (BGP), where unemployment, vacancy, and worker’s transitions rates remain constant in the face of improvements in the production and search technologies. A BGP exists iff firm-worker matches are inspection goods and the quality of a match is drawn from a Pareto distribution. Declining search frictions contribute to growth with an intensity determined by the tail coefficient of the Pareto distribution. We develop a strategy to measure the rate of decline of search frictions and their contribution to growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Paolo Martellini & Guido Menzio, 2020. "Declining Search Frictions, Unemployment, and Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(12), pages 4387-4437.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/710975
    DOI: 10.1086/710975
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Paolo Martellini & Guido Menzio, 2021. "Jacks of All Trades and Masters of One: Declining Search Frictions and Unequal Growth," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 339-352, September.
    2. Piotr Denderski & Florian Sniekers, "undated". "Broadband Internet and the Self-Employment Rate: A Cross-Country Study on the Gig Economy," Discussion Papers in Economics 19/13, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
    3. Bhuller, Manudeep & Kostøl, Andreas & Vigtel, Trond Christian, 2019. "How Broadband Internet Affects Labor Market Matching," Memorandum 10/2019, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    4. Guido Menzio, 2023. "Optimal Product Design: Implications for Competition and Growth Under Declining Search Frictions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(2), pages 605-639, March.
    5. Denderski, Piotr & Sniekers, Florian, 2021. "Declining Search Frictions and Type-of-Employment Choice," Discussion Paper 2021-010, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    6. Serdar Birinci & Kurt See & Shu Lin Wee, 2020. "Job Applications and Labor Market Flows," Working Papers 2020-023, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, revised Jan 2023.
    7. Jake Bradley & Axel Gottfries, 2022. "Labour market dynamics and growth," Discussion Papers 2022/02, University of Nottingham, Centre for Finance, Credit and Macroeconomics (CFCM).
    8. Edward Kung, 2020. "Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Housing," NBER Chapters, in: The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Economic Growth, pages 499-533, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Guimarães, Luís & Mazeda Gil, Pedro, 2022. "Looking ahead at the effects of automation in an economy with matching frictions," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    10. Petrosky-Nadeau, Nicolas & Zhang, Lu, 2021. "Unemployment crises," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 335-353.
    11. Marta Postuła & Wojciech Chmielewski & Piotr Puczyński & Rafał Cieślik, 2021. "The Impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on Energy Poverty and Unemployment in Selected European Union Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-18, September.
    12. Sarah Auster & Piero Gottardi & Ronald Wolthoff, 2022. "Simultaneous Search and Adverse Selection," Working Papers tecipa-734, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    13. Kevin Donovan & Will Jianyu Lu & Todd Schoellman, 2020. "Labor Market Dynamics and Development," Staff Report 596, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    14. Edward Kung, 2020. "Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Housing," NBER Working Papers 26886, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Griffy, Benjamin & Rabinovich, Stanislav, 2023. "Worker selectivity and fiscal externalities from unemployment insurance," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    16. Tsasa, Jean-Paul K., 2022. "Labor market volatility in a fully specified RBC search model: An analytical investigation," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    17. Avcioglu, Sahin & Karabay, Bilgehan, 2019. "Search efficiency, wage dynamics and welfare," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 270-286.
    18. Schnattinger, Philip, 2023. "Beliefs- and fundamentals-driven job creation," Bank of England working papers 1040, Bank of England.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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