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Efficiency Wages and Unemployment in Cities: The Case of High Relocation Costs

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Author Info
Zenou, Yves

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Abstract

We develop an urban model in which all jobs are located in the Central Business District (CBD) and workers, who have high relocation costs, optimally choose their residence between the CBD and the city-fringe. We consider two cases. In the first one, firms can pay different wages according to residential location (this is referred to as the unconstrained equilibrium) while in the second case, there is a legal constraint that prevents firms to wage-discriminate on the basis of residential location (this is referred to as the constrained equilibrium). We show that in the unconstrained equilibrium, the efficiency wage in fact increases with distance to jobs. We also demonstrate that both workers and firms are better off in the unconstrained equilibrium. Finally, we show that a policy that reduces the unemployment benefit decreases unemployment but, interestingly, has an ambiguous effect on utilities in both equilibria. Moreover, this policy has no impact on the land rent in the unconstrained equilibrium but increases the competition in the land market in the constrained equilibrium.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 4058.

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Date of creation: Sep 2003
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4058

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Related research
Keywords: location-dependent wages; relocation costs; urban labour markets;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
R14 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns

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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. Alan Manning, 2003. "The Real Thin Theory: Monopsony in Modern Labour Markets," CEP Discussion Papers dp0564, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Jan K. Brueckner & Yves Zenou, 2003. "Space and Unemployment: The Labor-Market Effects of Spatial Mismatch," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 242-241, January. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Zenou, Yves, 2002. "How do firms redline workers?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 391-408, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Zax, Jeffrey S., 1991. "Compensation for commutes in labor and housing markets," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 192-207, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Shapiro, Carl & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1984. "Equilibrium Unemployment as a Worker Discipline Device," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 433-44, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Zenou, Yves & Smith, Tony E., 1995. "Efficiency wages, involuntary unemployment and urban spatial structure," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 547-573, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Madden, Janice Fanning, 1985. "Urban wage gradients: Empirical evidence," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 291-301, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Wasmer, Etienne & Zenou, Yves, 2006. "Equilibrium search unemployment with explicit spatial frictions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 143-165, April. [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. Zenou, Yves, 2008. "Social Interactions and Labor Market Outcomes in Cities," IZA Discussion Papers 3283, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Ross, Stephen L. & Zenou, Yves, 2008. "Are Shirking and Leisure Substitutable? An Empirical Test of Efficiency Wages based on Urban Economic Theory," CEPR Discussion Papers 6841, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Zenou, Yves, 2007. "Why do Black Workers Search Less? A Transport-Mode Based Theory," CEPR Discussion Papers 6155, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Laurent Gobillon & Harris Selod & Yves Zenou, 2005. "The mechanisms of spatial mismatch," Research Unit Working Papers 0510, Laboratoire d'Economie Appliquee, INRA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Zenou, Yves, 2003. "Efficiency Wages, Urban Unemployment and Housing Consumption," CEPR Discussion Papers 4153, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Zenou, Yves, 2003. "Urban Labour Economic Theory," CEPR Discussion Papers 4029, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Yves Zenou, 2007. "High Relocation Costs in Search-Matching Models: Theory and Application to Spatial Mismatch," IZA Discussion Papers 2739, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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