The 'fractal' nature of the rise in earnings dispersion is one of its key features and remains a puzzle. In this paper, we offer a new perspective on the causes of changes in earnings dispersion, focusing on the role of labour reallocation. Once we drop the assumption that all firms pay a given...

The striking geographical concentration of economic activities suggests that there are substantial benefits toagglomeration. However, the nature of those benefits remains unclear. In this paper we take advantage of a newdataset to quantify the role of one of the main contenders - the matching of...

One outstanding macroeconomic feature of the past twenty years is the divergent employment growth of the USA and Europe. This paper investigates this, highlighting the nature of the differences and focusing on the flexibility of labour markets and the capability of an economy to reallocate...

Output and productivity is affected by the allocation of workers between firms, industries and occupations as well as by total employment. Policy affects the ability of markets to carry out the reallocation of factors, and the aim of facilitating this process may involve reducing restraints on...

This paper sets out the issues surrounding the optimal amount of job reallocation. The key factors are the trainability of the workforce, the volatility of demand and the cost of contract termination. The paper uses an international dataset to characterise the nature of labour reallocation and...

This paper considers the dynamics of the labour market from a matching perspective, but allows for job search by the employed. In particular, the endogeneity of employed job search is shown to be important and significantly alters the nature of the labour market dynamics implied by the model. We...

This paper characterizes the processes of job creation and job destruction (JC&D) in Britain, and provides more 'stylized facts' to hold up against models of JC&D. The analysis is based on data from the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey. (WIRS) surveys of 1980, 1984 and 1990 each of which...

Search and matching models imply that firms' employment adjustment costs depend on the tightness on the labour market, giving rise to endogenous or nonlinear dynamics in employment. This paper sets this argument out in detail, estimating a model simultaneously explaining the long-run level of...

We provide empirical evidence on the nature of spatial externalities in a matching model for the UK. We use a monthly panel of outflows, unemployment and vacancy stocks data from the registers at Jobcentres in the UK; these are mapped on to travel-to-work areas. We find evidence of significant...

It is widely recognised that one of the greatest economic problems facing developed countries is unemployment. An example of this recognition is the recent reports by the OECD ("The OECD Jobs Study", 1994) on unemployment, its causes and possible policies. One issue that is closely associated...