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Matching Frictions and Distorted Beliefs:Evidence from a Job Fair Experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Girum Abebe

    (World Bank,)

  • Stefano Caria

    (University of Warwick)

  • Marcel Fafchamps

    (Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford University)

  • Paolo Falco

    (University of Copenhagen)

  • Simon Franklin

    (Queen Mary University of London)

  • Simon Quinn

    (University of Oxford)

  • Forhad Shilpi

    (World Bank)

Abstract

We evaluate the impacts of a randomized job-fair intervention in which jobseekers and employers can meet at low cost. The intervention generates few hires, but it lowers participants’ expectations and causes both firms and workers to invest more in search as predicted by a theoretical model; this improves employment outcomes for less educated jobseekers. Through a unique two-sided belief-elicitation survey, we confirm that firms and jobseekers have over-optimistic expectations about the market. This suggests that, beyond slowing down matching, search frictions have a second understudied cost: they entrench inaccurate beliefs, further distorting search strategies and labour-market outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Girum Abebe & Stefano Caria & Marcel Fafchamps & Paolo Falco & Simon Franklin & Simon Quinn & Forhad Shilpi, 2023. "Matching Frictions and Distorted Beliefs:Evidence from a Job Fair Experiment," Working Papers 958, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    • Handle: RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:958
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    job-search strategy; recruitment; matching; expectations; beliefs; reser-vation wage; youth unemployment; Ethiopia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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