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Do Good Workers Hurt Bad Workers - or is it the Other Way Around?

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Author Info
Moen, Espen R

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Abstract

In this article, I study the effect of worker heterogeneities on wages and unemployment within the context of a directed search model. A worker's productivity in a given firm depends both on their type and on a worker-firm specific component. Firms advertise unconditional wage offers, and hire the most productive workers that show up. The resulting equilibrium is inefficient, as the wage premium paid to high-type workers is too high, and the number of high-type jobs too low compared to the output-maximizing solution. This reduces the welfare of high-type workers. My findings contrast with the findings in the literature on labour market segmentation, where the argument is that the existence of high-type workers forces down wages to low-type workers and thus reduces the welfare of this group.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 3471.

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Date of creation: Jul 2002
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:3471

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Related research
Keywords: directed search; heterogeneous workers; labour market segmentation; unemployment; wage differentials;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General
D50 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - General
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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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.:
  1. Lang, Kevin & Kahn, Shulamit, 1998. "The effect of minimum-wage laws on the distribution of employment: theory and evidence," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 67-82, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Mortensen, Dale T. & Pissarides, Christopher A., 1999. "New developments in models of search in the labor market," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 39, pages 2567-2627 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Levy, Frank & Murnane, Richard J, 1992. "U.S. Earnings Levels and Earnings Inequality: A Review of Recent Trends and Proposed Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 1333-81, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Kevin Lang & William T. Dickens, 1993. "Bilateral Search as an Explanation for Labor Market Segmentation and Other Anomalies," NBER Working Papers 4461, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Montgomery, James D, 1991. "Equilibrium Wage Dispersion and Interindustry Wage Differentials," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 106(1), pages 163-79, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Kevin Lang & William T. Dickens, 1992. "Labor Market Segmentation, Wage Dispersion and Unemployment," NBER Working Papers 4073, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Moen, Espen R, 1997. "Competitive Search Equilibrium," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(2), pages 385-411, April.
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  8. Michael Peters, 1995. "On the Equivalence of Walrasian and Non-Walrasian Equilibria in Contract Markets: The case of Complete Contracts," Working Papers peters-95-01, University of Toronto, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Jeremy I. Bulow & Lawrence H. Summers, 1986. "A Theory of Dual Labor Markets with Application to Industrial Policy, Discrimination and Keynesian Unemployment," NBER Working Papers 1666, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M & Pierce, Brooks, 1993. "Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(3), pages 410-42, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Inderst, Roman & Müller, Holger M., 1999. "Competitive Search Markets with Adverse Selection," Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications 99-52, Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim & Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim. [Downloadable!]
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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. Elisabetta Marzano, 2004. "Dual Labour Market Theories And Irregular Jobs: Is There a Dualism Even in The Irregular Sector?," CELPE Discussion Papers 81, CELPE (Centre of Labour Economics and Economic Policy), University of Salerno, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  2. Kevin Lang & Michael Manove, 2003. "Wage announcements with a continuum of worker type," Annales d'Economie et de Statistique, ADRES, issue 71-72, pages 10, Juillet-D. [Downloadable!]
  3. Tomer Blumkin & Yossi Hadar & Eran Yashiv, 2009. "The Macroeconomic Role of Unemployment Compensation," CEP Discussion Papers dp0909, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  4. Michael Sattinger, 2003. "Overlapping Labour Markets," Discussion Papers 03-06, University at Albany, SUNY, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Adrian Masters, 2005. "Directed Search without Wage Commitment and the Role of Labor Market Institutions," Discussion Papers 05-02, University at Albany, SUNY, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  6. Kevin Lang & Michael Manove & William T. Dickens, 2005. "Racial Discrimination in Labor Markets with Posted Wage Offers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1327-1340, September. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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