Abstract
This paper studies how the size of the labour market affects workers' decisions to invest in human capital. We consider a model of mismatch where firms rank workers according to their level of skills. The matching process operating in the market has the property that the job finding probability of workers depends on market size, market tightness and their ranking. The model is consistent with several facts highlighted in empirical studies: in bigger markets the distribution of human capital is more unequal and the returns to skill are higher.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 75-92 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | Papers in Regional Science |
Volume | 98 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Feb 2019 |
Keywords
- human capital
- skill distribution
- city size
- matching
- CITIES
- WAGE
- INEQUALITY