IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tin/wpaper/19980113.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Search Friction in the U.S. Labor Market

Author

Listed:
  • Audra J. Bowlus

    (University of Western Ontario and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

  • Shannon N. Seitz

    (University of Western Ontario)

Abstract

In this paper we determine the feasibility of using data from thePanel Study of Income Dynamics to estimate the Burdett-Mortensengeneral equilibrium search model. The data contain sufficientinformation on wages, labor force states, durations, and transitionsto generate estimates of the model's structural parameters. Ouranalysis compares the relative labor market search friction forblack and white male household heads. In general we find blacks facegreater search friction while unemployed than whites, but a similarlevel while employed. Within the model this finding impliessubstantial productivity differentials are needed to generate theblack-white wage differentials found in the data.

Suggested Citation

  • Audra J. Bowlus & Shannon N. Seitz, 1998. "Search Friction in the U.S. Labor Market," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 98-113/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:19980113
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/98113.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gerard J. van den Berg & Geert Ridder, 1998. "An Empirical Equilibrium Search Model of the Labor Market," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(5), pages 1183-1222, September.
    2. Bowlus, Audra J & Kiefer, Nicholas M & Neumann, George R, 1995. "Estimation of Equilibrium Wage Distributions with Heterogeneity," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(S), pages 119-131, Suppl. De.
    3. van den Berg, Gerard J, 1999. "Empirical Inference with Equilibrium Search Models of the Labour Market," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(456), pages 283-306, June.
    4. Burdett, Kenneth & Mortensen, Dale T, 1998. "Wage Differentials, Employer Size, and Unemployment," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 39(2), pages 257-273, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gerard J. van den Berg, 2003. "Multiple Equilibria and Minimum Wages in Labor Markets with Informational Frictions and Heterogeneous Production Technologies," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 44(4), pages 1337-1357, November.
    2. Braun, Christine & Engelhardt, Bryan & Griffy, Benjamin & Rupert, Peter, 2020. "Testing the independence of job arrival rates and wage offers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    3. Tomi Kyyrä, 2007. "Estimating Equilibrium Search Models from Finnish Data," Finnish Economic Papers, Finnish Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 139-165, Autumn.
    4. Shaimaa Yassin, 2013. "Structural Labor Market Transitions and Wage Dispersion in Egypt and Jordan," Working Papers 753, Economic Research Forum, revised May 2013.
    5. Giovanni Sulis, 2008. "Wage Dispersion and Equilibrium Search Models: Some Evidence from Italy," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 22(4), pages 593-627, December.
    6. J. Ignacio Garcia-Perez, 2002. "Equilibrium search models: the role of the assumptions," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 26(2), pages 255-284, May.
    7. Rosholm, Michael & Svarer, Michael, 2004. "Endogenous wage dispersion in a search-matching model," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(5), pages 623-645, October.
    8. van den Berg, Gerard J. & van Vuuren, Aico, 2010. "The effect of search frictions on wages," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 875-885, December.
    9. Renata Narita, 2020. "Self-Employment in Developing Countries: A Search-Equilibrium Approach," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 35, pages 1-34, January.
    10. Audra J. Bowlus & Zvi Eckstein, 2002. "Discrimination and Skill Differences in an Equilibrium Search Model," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 43(4), pages 1309-1345, November.
    11. Hugo Benitez-Silva, 2001. "A Dynamic Model of Job Search Behavior over the Life Cycle with Empirical Applications," Computing in Economics and Finance 2001 100, Society for Computational Economics.
    12. Jos van Ommeren & Giovanni Russo, 2004. "Sequential or Non-sequential Recruitment?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 04-109/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 15 Sep 2008.
    13. Ronald P. Wolthoff, 2010. "Applications and Interviews: A Structural Analysis of Two-Sided Simultaneous Search," Working Papers tecipa-418, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    14. Costas Meghir & Renata Narita & Jean-Marc Robin, 2015. "Wages and Informality in Developing Countries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(4), pages 1509-1546, April.
    15. Bernd Fitzenberger & Alfred Garloff, 2008. "Unemployment, Labor Market Transitions, And Residual Wage Dispersion," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 55(5), pages 561-590, November.
    16. Gan, Li & Hernandez, Manuel A. & Ma, Shuang, 2016. "The higher costs of doing business in China: Minimum wages and firms' export behavior," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 81-94.
    17. Timothy J. Richards & Zachariah Rutledge & Marcelo Castillo, 2024. "Labor shortages and agricultural trucking rates," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 72(2), pages 105-129, June.
    18. Guido Menzio & Irina Telyukova & Ludo Visschers, 2016. "Directed Search over the Life Cycle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 19, pages 38-62, January.
    19. Giovanni Sulis, 2012. "Gender wage differentials in Italy: a structural estimation approach," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 25(1), pages 53-87, January.
    20. Launov, Andrey, 2003. "A Study of the Austrian Labor Market Dynamics Using a Model of Search Equilibrium," IZA Discussion Papers 801, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:19980113. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Tinbergen Office +31 (0)10-4088900 (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/tinbenl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.