IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/
MyIDEAS: Log in (now much improved!) to save this paper

How Urbanization Affect Employment and Social Interactions

Author Info

  • Sato, Yasuhiro
  • Zenou, Yves

Abstract

We develop a model where the unemployed workers in the city can find a job either directly or through weak or strong ties. We show that, in denser areas, individuals choose to interact with more people and meet more random encounters (weak ties) than in sparsely populated areas. We also demonstrate that, for a low urbanization level, there is a unique steady-state equilibrium where workers do not interact with weak ties, while, for a high level of urbanization, there is a unique steady-state equilibrium with full social interactions. We show that these equilibria are usually not socially efficient when the urban population has an intermediate size because there are too few social interactions compared to the social optimum. Finally, even when social interactions are optimal, we show that there is over-urbanization in equilibrium.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. 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.

File URL: http://www.cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=9805
Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 9805.

as
in new window

Length:
Date of creation: Feb 2014
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9805
Contact details of provider: Postal:
Centre for Economic Policy Research, 77 Bastwick Street, London EC1V 3PZ.

Phone: 44 - 20 - 7183 8801
Fax: 44 - 20 - 7183 8820

Order Information: Email:


Keywords: labor market.; social interactions; strong ties; urban economics; Weak ties;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
  • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
  • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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.:

as in new window
  1. Calvó-Armengol, Antoni & Patacchini, Eleonora & Zenou, Yves, 2008. "Peer Effects and Social Networks in Education," IZA Discussion Papers 3859, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  2. R. Jason Faberman, 2005. "What’s In a City?: Understanding the Micro-Level Employer Dynamics Underlying Urban Growth," Working Papers 386, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  3. Jan K. Brueckner & Ann G. Largey, 2006. "Social Interaction and Urban Sprawl," Working Papers 060707, University of California-Irvine, Department of Economics.
  4. Judith K. Hellerstein & Melissa McInerney & David Neumark, 2011. "Neighbors and Coworkers: The Importance of Residential Labor Market Networks," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(4), pages 659 - 695.
  5. Zenou, Yves, 2010. "Search, Migration, and Urban Land Use: The Case of Transportation Policies," Research Papers in Economics 2010:19, Stockholm University, Department of Economics.
  6. Ghiglino, Christian & Nocco, Christian, 2012. "When Veblen meets Krugman," Economics Discussion Papers 8949, University of Essex, Department of Economics.
  7. Rosenthal, Stuart S. & Strange, William C., 2004. "Evidence on the nature and sources of agglomeration economies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 49, pages 2119-2171 Elsevier.
  8. Yannis M. Ioannides & Linda Datcher Loury, 2002. "Job Information Networks, Neighborhood Effects and Inequality," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 0217, Department of Economics, Tufts University.
  9. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Gobillon, Laurent, 2015. "The Empirics of Agglomeration Economies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier.
  10. Antoni Calvó-Armengol & Thierry Verdier & Yves Zenouc, 2007. "Strong and Weak Ties in Employment and Crime," Post-Print halshs-00754247, HAL.
  11. BRUECKNER, Jan K. & THISSE , Jacques-François & ZENOU, Yves, . "Local labor markets, job matching, and urban location," CORE Discussion Papers RP 1545, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
  12. Helsley, Robert & Zenou, Yves, 2011. "Social Networks and Interactions in Cities," CEPR Discussion Papers 8260, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  13. Robert W. Helsley & William C. Strange, 2007. "Urban interactions and spatial structure," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 119-138, March.
  14. MOSSAY, Pascal & PICARD, Pierre M., 2009. "On spatial equilibria in a social interaction model," CORE Discussion Papers 2009063, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
  15. Wahba, Jackline & Zenou, Yves, 2003. "Density, Social Networks and Job Search Methods: Theory and Application to Egypt," CEPR Discussion Papers 3967, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  16. Topa, Giorgio & Zenou, Yves, 2015. "Neighborhood and Network Effects," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier.
  17. Antoni Calvó-Armengol & Matthew O. Jackson, 2004. "The Effects of Social Networks on Employment and Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 426-454, June.
  18. Bayer, Patrick & Ross, Stephen L., 2005. "Place of Work and Place of Residence: Informal Hiring Networks and Labor Market Outcomes," Working Papers 8, Yale University, Department of Economics.
  19. Yannis M. Ioannides, 2010. "Neighborhood Effects and Housing," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 0747, Department of Economics, Tufts University.
  20. Zhang, Junfu, 2004. "Residential segregation in an all-integrationist world," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 533-550, August.
  21. Topa, Giorgio, 1997. "Social Interactions, Local Spillovers and Unemployment," Working Papers 97-17, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
  22. Antonio Ciccone & Robert E. Hall, 1995. "Productivity and the density of economic activity," Economics Working Papers 120, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
  23. Marshall, Alfred, 1890. "The Principles of Economics," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number marshall1890.
  24. Sébastian Grauwin & Florence Goffette-Nagot & Pablo Jensen, 2010. "Dynamic models of residential ségrégation: an analytical solution," Post-Print halshs-00502758, HAL.
  25. Pierre M. Picard & Pascal Mossay, 2013. "Spatial Segregation and Urban Structure," CREA Discussion Paper Series 13-03, Center for Research in Economic Analysis, University of Luxembourg.
  26. Christopher A. Pissarides, 2000. "Equilibrium Unemployment Theory, 2nd Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262161877, December.
  27. Eleonora Patacchini & Yves Zenou, 2012. "Ethnic Networks and Employment Outcomes," CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1202, Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), Department of Economics, University College London.
  28. Harris, John R & Todaro, Michael P, 1970. "Migration, Unemployment & Development: A Two-Sector Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 126-42, March.
  29. Yannis M. Ioannides & Giorgio Topa, 2010. "Neighborhood Effects: Accomplishments And Looking Beyond Them," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 343-362.
  30. Zenou, Yves, 2013. "Spatial versus social mismatch," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 113-132.
  31. Edward E. Glaeser & Bruce Sacerdote & Jose A. Scheinkman, 1995. "Crime and Social Interactions," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1738, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
  32. Edward L. Glaeser, 2010. "Agglomeration Economics," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number glae08-1, May.
  33. Yannis M. Ioannides, 2012. "From Neighborhoods to Nations: The Economics of Social Interactions," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9892, 01-2013.
  34. Maloney, William F, 1999. "Does Informality Imply Segmentation in Urban Labor Markets? Evidence from Sectoral Transitions in Mexico," World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 13(2), pages 275-302, May.
  35. Cattell, Vicky, 2001. "Poor people, poor places, and poor health: the mediating role of social networks and social capital," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 52(10), pages 1501-1516, May.
  36. George A. Akerlof, 1997. "Social Distance and Social Decisions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(5), pages 1005-1028, September.
  37. Yamada, Gustavo, 1996. "Urban Informal Employment and Self-Employment in Developing Countries: Theory and Evidence," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(2), pages 289-314, January.
  38. Douglas Marcouiller, S.J. & Veronica Ruiz de Castilla & Christopher Woodruff, 1995. "Formal Measures of the Informal Sector Wage Gap in Mexico, El Salvador, and Peru," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 294., Boston College Department of Economics.
  39. repec:esx:essedp:708 is not listed on IDEAS
  40. Edward L. Glaeser, 2010. "Introduction to "Agglomeration Economics"," NBER Chapters, in: Agglomeration Economics, pages 1-14 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.

as in new window


Cited by:

  1. Yoske Igarashi, 2016. "Distributional effects of hiring through networks," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 20, pages 90-110, April.
  2. Gaigné, Carl & Zenou, Yves, 2015. "Agglomeration, city size and crime," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 62-82.

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Access and download statistics

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9805. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ()

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis using RePEc data.