Search, sorting, and urban agglomeration

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wheeler, CH
• 署名单位: Tulane University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0734-306X
• DOI: 10.1086/322823
• 发表日期: 2001
• 页码: 879-899
• 关键词: economic-development; city size; GROWTH; cities

摘要

Studies have suggested that urban agglomeration enhances productivity by facilitating the firm-worker matching process. This article develops a model that formalizes this notion and demonstrates that, when firm capital and worker skill are complementary in production, urban agglomeration will tend to generate more efficient, yet segregated matches. As a result, not only will local market size be positively associated with average productivity, it will also generate greater between-skill-group wage inequality and a higher expected return to skill acquisition. Recent data from the counties and metropolitan areas of the United States is consistent with each of these implications.