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A Matching Model with Endogenous Skill Requirements

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Author Info
James Albrecht (Georgetown University)
Susan Vroman (Georgetown University)

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Abstract

In this paper, we consider a labor market in which workers differ in their abilities and jobs differ in their skill requirements. We take the distribution of worker abilities as given (a fraction p of the workers is low-skill, a fraction 1-p is high-skill), but we model the determination of skill requirements by firms. High-skill jobs produce more output than low-skill jobs; however, high-skill jobs require high-skill workers and thus are more difficult to fill. We use a matching model together with a Nash bargaining approach to wage setting to determine the equilibrium mix of job types, along with the equilibrium relationship between worker/job characteristics and wages. We derive implications for the distributions of unemployment durations across workers and of vacancy durations across jobs.
We use this model to examine the comparative static effects of a relative increase in the productivity of high-skill jobs (interpreted as "skill-biased technical change") and of changes in the mix of worker types in the labor force. Specifically, we examine how these changes affect aggregate unemployment and wage inequality via their effects on the equilibrium distribution of skill requirements. We also examine the effects of policy interventions such as unemployment compensation on the equilibrium.

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Paper provided by Econometric Society in its series Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers with number 0774.

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Date of creation: 01 Aug 2000
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Handle: RePEc:ecm:wc2000:0774

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  1. A. Gautier, Pieter & J. van den Berg, Gerard & C. van Ours, Jan & Ridder, Geert, 2002. "Worker turnover at the firm level and crowding out of lower educated workers," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 523-538, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Acemoglu, Daron, 1996. "Changes in Unemployment and Wage Inequality: An Alternative Theory and Some Evidence," CEPR Discussion Papers 1459, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Mortensen, Dale T & Pissarides, Christopher A, 1999. "Unemployment Responses to 'Skill-Biased' Technology Shocks: The Role of Labour Market Policy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(455), pages 242-65, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Machin, Stephen, 1996. "Wage Inequality in the UK," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 47-64, Spring.
  5. Machin, Stephen & Manning, Alan, 1997. "Can supply create its own demand? Implications for rising skill differentials," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(3-5), pages 507-516, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Diamond, Peter A, 1982. "Aggregate Demand Management in Search Equilibrium," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(5), pages 881-94, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Paul Krugman, 1994. "Past and prospective causes of high unemployment," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, issue Jan, pages 49-98.
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  8. Vroman, Susan B., 1987. "Behavior of the firm in a market for heterogeneous labor," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 313-329, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Mortensen, Dale T & Pissarides, Christopher A, 1994. "Job Creation and Job Destruction in the Theory of Unemployment," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 61(3), pages 397-415, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Pieter A. Gautier, 1999. "Unemployment and Search Externalities in a Model with Heterogeneous Jobs and Heterogeneous Workers," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 99-075/3, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
  11. Daron Acemoglu, 1999. "Patterns of Skill Premia," NBER Working Papers 7018, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Saint-Paul, Gilles, 1996. "Are the unemployed unemployable?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(7), pages 1501-1519, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. McKenna, C. J., 1996. "Education and the distribution of unemployment," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 113-132, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Eli Berman & John Bound & Stephen Machin, 1998. "Implications Of Skill-Biased Technological Change: International Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(4), pages 1245-1279, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Paul Beaudry & David Green, 1998. "What is Driving US and Canadian Wages: Exogenous Technical Change or Endogenous Choice of Technique?," NBER Working Papers 6853, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Sicherman, Nachum, 1991. ""Overeducation" in the Labor Market," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(2), pages 101-22, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. James J. Heckman & Lance Lochner & Christopher Taber, 1998. "Explaining Rising Wage Inequality: Explorations with a Dynamic General Equilibrium Model of Labor Earnings with Heterogeneous Agents," NBER Working Papers 6384, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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