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Cities, Matching and the Productivity Gains of Agglomeration

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Author Info
Fredrik Andersson
Simon Burgess
Julia Lane

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Abstract

The striking geographical concentration of economic activities suggests that there are substantial benefits toagglomeration. However, the nature of those benefits remains unclear. In this paper we take advantage of a newdataset to quantify the role of one of the main contenders - the matching of workers and jobs. Using individuallevel data for two large US states we show that thicker urban labour markets are associated with moreassortative matching between workers and firms. Another critical condition is required for this to generatehigher productivity: complementarity of worker and firm quality in the production function. Usingestablishment level productivity regressions, we show that such complementarity is found in our data. Puttingtogether the production and matching relationships, we show that production complementarity and assortativematching is an important source of the urban productivity premium.

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Paper provided by Centre for Economic Performance, LSE in its series CEP Discussion Papers with number dp0648.

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Date of creation: Sep 2004
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Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0648

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Related research
Keywords: Urban Productivity; Matching; Agglomeration;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
R23 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
R12 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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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.:
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    Other versions:
  3. Robert Shimer & Lones Smith, 2000. "Assortative Matching and Search," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(2), pages 343-370, March.
    Other versions:
  4. John Haltiwanger & C J Krizan & Lucia Foster, 1998. "Aggregate Productivity Growth: Lessons From Microeconomic Evidence," Working Papers 98-12, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Wheeler, Christopher H, 2001. "Search, Sorting, and Urban Agglomeration," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(4), pages 879-99, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Kremer, M & Maskin, E, 1996. "Wage Inequality and Segregation by Skill," Working papers 96-23, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
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  7. John C. Haltiwanger & Julia I. Lane & James R. Spletzer, 1999. "Productivity Differences across Employers: The Roles of Employer Size, Age, and Human Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 94-98, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Becker, Gary S, 1973. "A Theory of Marriage: Part I," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(4), pages 813-46, July-Aug.. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Roland Benabou, 1991. "Workings of a City: Location, Education, and Production," NBER Technical Working Papers 0113, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Michael Kremer & Eric Maskin, 1996. "Wage Inequality and Segregation," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1777, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
  13. Fredrik Andersson & Harry J. Holzer & Julia I. Lane, 2002. "The interactions of workers and firms in the low-wage labor market," Technical Papers 2002-12, Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau. [Downloadable!]
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  15. Enrico Moretti, 2003. "Human Capital Externalities in Cities," NBER Working Papers 9641, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, 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.)

  1. R. Jason Faberman, 2007. "The relationship between the establishment age distribution and urban growth," Working Papers 07-18, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
  2. Antonio Cabrales & Antoni Calvó-Armengol & Yves Zenou, 2009. "Social Interactions and Spillovers: Incentives,Segregation and Topology," Working Papers 2009-06, FEDEA. [Downloadable!]
  3. Sherrill Shaffer & Iftekhar Hasan & Mingming Zhou, 2008. "New Small Firms And Dimensions Of Economic Performance," CAMA Working Papers 2008-24, Australian National University, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Miles Finney, 2006. "An Empirical Test of Urban Labor Matching," ERSA conference papers ersa06p372, European Regional Science Association. [Downloadable!]
  5. Sherrill Shaffer & Robert N. Collender, 2008. "Rural Economic Performance And Federal Credit Programs," CAMA Working Papers 2008-26, Australian National University, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis. [Downloadable!]
  6. Gerald Carlino & Satyajit Chatterjee & Robert Hunt, 2006. "Urban density and the rate of invention," Working Papers 06-14, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Candau, Fabien, 2006. "The Spatial and Public Economics of Regions, a Theoretical and Empirical Survey," MPRA Paper 1153, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  8. Hoyt Bleakley & Jeffrey Lin, 2007. "Thick-market effects and churning in the labor market: evidence from U.S. cities," Working Papers 07-23, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. [Downloadable!]
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