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Search in cities

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  • Zenou, Yves

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to expose the recent developments of urban search models which incorporate a land market into a search-matching framework. Using these models, we will be able to explain why unemployment rates vary within a city, how city structure affects workers' labor-market outcomes, how unemployment benefits and the job-destruction rate affect the growth of cities and why workers living far away from job centers search less intensively and experience higher unemployment rates than those residing closer to jobs. We are also able to explain why, as compared to whites, black workers spend more time commuting to work but travel less miles and search for jobs over a smaller area.

Suggested Citation

  • Zenou, Yves, 2009. "Search in cities," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(6), pages 607-624, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:53:y:2009:i:6:p:607-624
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Vincent Boitier, 2013. "Endogenous city size in urban search models: the case of high reallocation costs," ERSA conference papers ersa13p590, European Regional Science Association.
    2. Sabine D'Costa & Henry Overman, 2013. "The urban wage growth premium: evidence from British cities," ERSA conference papers ersa13p516, European Regional Science Association.
    3. Frédéric Gavrel, 2015. "Participation, Recruitment Selection, and the Minimum Wage," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 117(4), pages 1281-1305, October.
    4. Lehmann, Etienne & Montero Ledezma, Paola L. & Linden, Bruno Van der, 2016. "Workforce location and equilibrium unemployment in a duocentric economy with matching frictions," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 26-44.
    5. Rune Vejlin, 2013. "Residential Location, Job Location, and Wages: Theory and Empirics," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 27(2), pages 115-139, June.
    6. D'Costa, Sabine & Overman, Henry G., 2014. "The urban wage growth premium: Sorting or learning?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 168-179.
    7. Benoît Schmutz & Modibo Sidibé, 2016. "Frictional spatial equilibrium," Working Papers 2016-29, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    8. Yves Zenou, 2011. "Search, wage posting and urban spatial structure," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(3), pages 387-416, May.
    9. Tyndall, Justin, 2021. "The local labour market effects of light rail transit," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    10. Zenou, Yves, 2009. "Endogenous job destruction and job matching in cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 323-336, May.
    11. Etienne LEHMANN & Paola L. MONTERO LEDEZMA & Bruno VAN DER LINDEN, 2013. "Inefficient equilibrium unemployment in a duocentric economy with matching frictions," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2013033, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    12. Yip, Chi Man, 2011. "Size and The City: Productivity, Match Quality and Wage Inequality," MPRA Paper 31255, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Boitier, Vincent, 2018. "The role of labor market structure in urban sprawl," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 83-98.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Job search Urban land use Search intensity Spatial mismatch Automobile mismatch;

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns

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