The effects of social networks on employment and inequality

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Calvó-Armengol, A; Jackson, MO
• 署名单位: Autonomous University of Barcelona; California Institute of Technology
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/0002828041464542
• 发表日期: 2004
• 页码: 426-454
• 关键词: labor-market; job search; CONTACT NETWORKS; weak-ties; unemployment; persistence; INFORMATION; DYNAMICS; earnings; models

摘要

We develop a model where agents obtain information about job opportunities through an explicitly modeled network of social contacts. We show that employment is positively correlated across time and agents. Moreover, unemployment exhibits duration dependence: the probability of obtaining a job decreases in the length of time that an agent has been unemployed. Finally, we examine inequality between two groups. If staying in the labor market is costly and one group starts with a worse employment status, then that group's drop-out rate will be higher and their employment prospects will be persistently below that of the other group.