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Search, wage posting and urban spatial structure

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  • Yves Zenou

Abstract

We develop an urban-search model in which firms post wages. When all workers are identical, the Diamond paradox holds, i.e. there is a unique wage in equilibrium even in the presence of search and spatial frictions. This wage is affected by spatial and labour costs. When workers differ according to the value imputed to leisure, we show that, under some conditions, two wages emerge in equilibrium. The commuting cost affects the land market but also the labour market through wages. Workers' productivity also affects housing prices and this impact can be positive or negative depending on the location in the city. One important aspect of our model is that, even with positive search costs, wage dispersion prevails in equilibrium, a feature not possible in the non-spatial model.
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  • Yves Zenou, 2011. "Search, wage posting and urban spatial structure," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(3), pages 387-416, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jecgeo:v:11:y:2011:i:3:p:387-416
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeg/lbp063
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    Cited by:

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    3. Kawata, Keisuke & Sato, Yasuhiro, 2012. "On-the-job search in urban areas," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 715-726.
    4. Boitier, Vincent, 2018. "The role of labor market structure in urban sprawl," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 83-98.
    5. Wei Xiao, 2014. "Search Frictions, Unemployment, And Housing In Cities: Theory And Policies," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 422-449, June.
    6. Uwe Blien & Stefan Fuchs & Georg Hirte, 2013. "New advances in the analysis of regional labour markets," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 92(2), pages 243-248, June.
    7. Mark J. Holmes & Jesús Otero, 2022. "The wage curve within and across regions: new insights from a pairwise view of US states," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(5), pages 2069-2089, May.
    8. Abrahams, Scott & Mabli, James, 2024. "Commuting barriers to low-wage employment," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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