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Competitive Search, Efficiency, And Multiworker Firms

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  • William B. Hawkins

Abstract

I study competitive search equilibrium in an environment where firms operate a decreasing‐returns production technology and hire multiple workers simultaneously. Firms post wages, possibly several of them. The equilibrium can feature wage dispersion even though all firms and workers are ex ante identical. Unlike the benchmark where firms hire a single worker, hiring is constrained inefficient. Efficiency requires that firms commit to the number of hires, pay all applicants, or pay wages that depend on the number of applicants. Under wage‐posting, the inefficiency is highest at intermediate levels of labor market tightness.

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  • William B. Hawkins, 2013. "Competitive Search, Efficiency, And Multiworker Firms," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 54(1), pages 219-251, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:iecrev:v:54:y:2013:i:1:p:219-251
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2354.2012.00731.x
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    Cited by:

    1. William Hawkins & Daron Acemoglu, 2007. "Equilibrium Unemployment in a Generalized Search Model," 2007 Meeting Papers 384, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    2. Leo Kaas & Philipp Kircher, 2015. "Efficient Firm Dynamics in a Frictional Labor Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3030-3060, October.
    3. Gomis-Porqueras Pedro & Julien Benoît & Wang Liang, 2018. "Competitive Search with Ex-post Opportunism," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 18(1), pages 1-17, January.
    4. Daisy J. Huang & Charles Ka Yui Leung & Chung-Yi Tse, 2018. "What Accounts for the Differences in Rent-Price Ratio and Turnover Rate? A Search-and-Matching Approach," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 431-475, October.
    5. William Hawkins, 2015. "Bargaining with Commitment Between Workers and Large Firms," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 18(2), pages 350-364, April.
    6. Julien, Benoit & Kennes, John & Ritter, Moritz, 2018. "Bidding for teams," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 68-73.
    7. Tan, Serene, 2022. "Income inequality and endogenous market structure under directed search," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    8. Li, Fei & Tian, Can, 2013. "Directed search and job rotation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 148(3), pages 1268-1281.
    9. Li, Fei & Tian, Can, 2011. "Directed search and job rotation," MPRA Paper 33875, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. James Bland, Simon Loertscher, 2012. "Monotonicity, Non-Participation, and Directed Search Equilibria," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 1147, The University of Melbourne.
    11. Merz, Monika & Hergovich, Philipp, 2018. "The Price of Capital, Factor Substitutability, and Corporate Profits," CEPR Discussion Papers 13168, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Philipp Hergovich & Monika Merz, 2018. "The Price of Capital, Factor Substitutability and Corporate Profits," Vienna Economics Papers 1801, University of Vienna, Department of Economics.
    13. , & , B., 2014. "Search with multi-worker firms," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(3), September.
    14. Kircher, Philipp & Wright, Randall & Julien, Benoit & Guerrieri, Veronica, 2017. "Directed Search: A Guided Tour," CEPR Discussion Papers 12315, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Godenhielm Mats & Kultti Klaus, 2015. "Directed Search with Endogenous Capacity," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 15(2), pages 211-249, July.
    16. Leena Rudanko, 2018. "Firm Wages in a Frictional Labor Market," 2018 Meeting Papers 1154, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    17. Geromichalos, Athanasios, 2012. "Directed search and optimal production," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(6), pages 2303-2331.
    18. Masters, Adrian, 2016. "On the firms’ component of wage dispersion: Endogenous effort versus search frictions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 213-220.
    19. Lester, Benjamin, 2010. "Directed search with multi-vacancy firms," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 145(6), pages 2108-2132, November.

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