We develop a model where information about jobs is essentially obtained through friends and relatives, i.e. strong and weak ties. Workers commute to a business center to work and to interact with other people. We find that housing prices increase with the level of social interactions in the city because information about jobs is transmitted more rapidly and, as a result, individuals are more likely to be employed and to be able to pay higher land rents. We also show that, under some conditions, workers using more their weak ties than strong ties to find a job receive a higher wage. We finally demonstrate that workers living far away from jobs pay lower housing prices but experience higher unemployment rates than those living close to jobs because they mainly rely on their strong ties to obtain information about jobs.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by Research Institute of Industrial Economics in its series Working Paper Series with number
755.
Length: 33 pages Date of creation: 19 Jun 2008 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0755
Contact details of provider: Postal: Research Institute of Industrial Economics, Box 55665, SE-102 15 Stockholm, Sweden Phone: +46 8 665 4500 Fax: +46 8 665 4599 Email: Web page: http://www.ifn.se/ More information through EDIRC
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Elisabeth Gustafsson).
Find related papers by JEL classification: A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - General R14 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
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.:
Edward L. Glaeser & Bruce Sacerdote & Jose A. Scheinkman, 1995.
"Crime and Social Interactions,"
NBER Working Papers
5026, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Jan K. Brueckner & Jacques-FranÁois Thisse & Yves Zenou, 2002.
"Local Labor Markets, Job Matching, and Urban Location,"
International Economic Review,
Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 43(1), pages 155-171, February.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions: