Kiyohiko G. Nishimura (Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo) Hiroyuki Ozaki (Faculty of Economics, Tohoku University)
Abstract
Suppose that "uncertainty" about labor market conditions has increased. Does this change induce an unemployed worker to search longer, or shorter? This paper shows that the answer is drastically different depending on whether an increase in "uncertainty" is an increase in risk or that in true uncertainty in the sense of Frank Knight. We show in a general framework that, while an increase in risk (the mean-preserving spread of the wage distribution that the worker thinks she faces) increases the reservation wage, an increase in the Knightian uncertainty (a decrease in her confidence about the wage distribution) reduces it.
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo in its series CIRJE F-Series with number
CIRJE-F-112.
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.:
Itzhak Gilboa & David Schmeidler, 1991.
"Updating Ambiguous Beliefs,"
Discussion Papers
924, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
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