Inefficient labor market sorting

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Eckel, Carsten; Yeaple, Stephen R.
• 署名单位: University of Munich; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); Pennsylvania State University; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0531
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2024.105889
• 发表日期: 2024
• 关键词: Labor market imperfections; misallocation; PRODUCTIVITY; wage inequality; international trade; welfare

摘要

A growing empirical literature attributes much of the productivity advantages of large, superstar firms to their adoption of best practice management techniques that allow them to better identify and use talented workers. The reasons for the incomplete adoption of these structured management practices (SMPs) and their welfare implications are not well understood. This paper provides a positive and normative analysis of these issues in a theoretical framework in which SMPs induce sorting of talent across firms. Incomplete adoption arises because SMPs are costly and worker talent is in limited supply. In equilibrium there is excessive adoption of SMPs and too much sorting of talented workers into large firms. In this second-best environment, policy changes that favor large firms, such as trade liberalization, have the potential to lower welfare.