The paper presents an analysis of the coexistence of daily-wage and piece-rate contracts in agrarian economies. We show that, when individual effort is taken into account, daily-wage labourers typically form a convex set in the space of working ability. The most able and the least able labourers...

A two-sector model of urban unemployment is developed which focuses on the formation of a secondary sector under conditions in which a demand shock in the primary sector leads to a sharp increase in unemployment. The optimal location in the secondary sector (treated as a single firm) is shown to...

We study labor market competition with heterogeneous firms and consumers. Worker types are continuously distributed within the population and a finite number of firms have specific skill requirements. Specific human capital investment is the cost of training a worker to be able to work for a...

The labor market model is developed within an urban spatial context, where it is shown that effeciency-wage policies can lead to significant levels of involuntary unemployment. Commuting cost differences between workers and nonworkers tend to increase unemployment, and competition for land tends...

We consider a dual labor market with a continuum of heterogeneous workers differentiated by their ability of acquiring a specific skill. In the primary sector, jobs require firm-specific training and firms set efficiency wages. In the secondary sector, wages are competitive and no training is...

We consider a finite number of firms which compete imperfectly for heterogenous workers. Firms produce a homogeneous good sold on a competitive market and face demand-induced price fluc- tuations. It is then shown that unemployment may arise in equilibrium because of uncertainty on product...

This paper analyzes firms' location when workers endogenously choose to qualify for professional skills but when they remain uncertain about the potential match between their personal abilities and/or affinities and the firms' specific production tasks. By qualifying in a region where firms...

We consider a dual labor market with a continuum of heterogeneous Workers differentiated by their ability of aquiring a specific skill. In the primary sector, jobs require firm specific training and firm set eficiency wages. In the secondary sector, wages are competitive and no training is required.

A two-sector model of urban unemployment is developed which focuses on the formation of a secondary sector under conditions in which a demand shock in the primary sector leads to a sharp increase in unemployment. The optimal location in the secondary sector (treated as a single firm) is shown to...