This paper develops a model of frictional job search in which job referral networks evolve endogenously in response to local labor market conditions. An intuitive "Network Balance'' condition characterizes the equilibrium density of the job referral network. The model helps explain observed...

We study how firms respond to predictable, but uncertain, worker absences arising from maternity and non-work-related sickness leave. Using administrative data on over 1.5 million spells of leave in Brazil, we identify the short-run effects of a leave spell starting on firms' employment, hiring,...

We use Brazilian matched employer-employee data to provide new evidence on gender disparities in labor market sorting on wages and workplace safety. We show that women and men sort in highly disparate, but systematic, ways on the basis of physical risk, despite sorting almost identically on...

Despite their documented importance in the labor market, little is known about how workers use social networks to find jobs and their resulting effect on earnings. I use geographically detailed US employer-employee data to infer the role of social networks in connecting workers to jobs in...

Referral networks affect the efficiency and equity of labor market outcomes, but few studies have been able to identify earnings effects empirically. To make progress, I build a model of on-the-job search in which referral networks channel information about high-paying jobs. I evaluate the model...