We propose a spatial search-matching model where both job creation and job destruction are endogenous. Workers are ex ante identical but not ex post since their job can be hit by a technological shock, which decreases their productivity. They reside in a city and commuting to the job center involves both pecuniary and time costs. Thus, workers with high wages are willing to live closer to jobs to save on time commuting costs. We show that, in equilibrium, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the productivity space and the urban location space since high-productivity workers bid away low-productivity workers in order to occupy locations close to jobs. We also show that in the bargaining process, there is a spatial element in the wage setting since firms need to compensate workers for their spatial costs. Compared to the non-spatial model, the unemployment rate and the reservation productivity are lower and the job-creation rate is higher because the urban space through commuting costs and land rent create additional frictions in the labor market.
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
file. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number
2695.
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 & Matthew E. Kahn & Jordan Rappaport, 2000.
"Why Do the Poor Live in Cities?,"
NBER Working Papers
7636, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions:
Andrew J. Oswald & David G. Blanchflower, 1995.
"The Wage Curve,"
MIT Press Books,
The MIT Press,
edition 1, volume 1, number 026202375x, December.
Other versions:
Blanchflower, D. & Oswald, A., 1989.
"The Wage Curve,"
Papers
340, London School of Economics - Centre for Labour Economics.
David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 1990.
"The Wage Curve,"
NBER Working Papers
3181, 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: