SKILL REQUIREMENTS, SEARCH FRICTIONS, AND WAGE INEQUALITY

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Uren, Lawrence; Virag, Gabor
• 署名单位: University of Melbourne; University of Rochester
• 刊物名称: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0020-6598
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2354.2011.00632.x
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 379-406
• 关键词: the-job search; equilibrium unemployment; technological-change; cyclical behavior; matching model; polarization; demand; GROWTH

摘要

We analyze wage inequality, extending the Burdett and Mortensen (International Economic Review 39 (1998), 257-73) model by incorporating worker heterogeneity through skill requirements. We provide sufficient conditions for existence of an equilibrium where more productive firms offer higher wages. The unique such equilibrium is characterized in a closed form solution. Both within- and between-group inequality are explicitly calculated. We then calibrate the model to explain the joint movement of both within- and between-group inequality in the late 1980s and 1990s, an explanation that has been elusive in the literature so far.