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Job search and asset accumulation under borrowing constraints

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Listed author(s):
  • Silvio Rendon

Abstract

In this paper I show how borrowing constraints and job search interact. I fit a dynamic model to data from the National Longitudinal Survey (1979-cohort) and show that borrowing constraints are significant. Agents with more initial assets and more access to credit attain higher wages for several periods after high school graduation. The unemployed maintain their consumption by running down their assets, while the employed save to buffer against future unemployment spells. I also show that, unlike in models with exogenous income streams, unemployment transfers, by allowing agents to attain higher wages do not 'crowd out' but increase saving.

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File URL: https://econ-papers.upf.edu/papers/649.pdf
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Paper provided by Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra in its series Economics Working Papers with number 649.

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Date of creation: Oct 2002
Handle: RePEc:upf:upfgen:649
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://www.econ.upf.edu/

Keywords: Job search; asset accumulation liquidity constraints; consumption; unemployment; estimation of dynamic structural models;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
  • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
  • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
  • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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