In Search of Labor Demand

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2018
Volume: 108
Issue: 9
Pages: 2714-57

Score contribution per author:

2.681 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We propose and estimate a novel specification of labor demand which encompasses search frictions and the role of entrepreneurs in new firm creation. Using city-industry variation over four decades, we estimate the wage elasticity of employment demand to be close to -1 at the industry-city level and -0.3 at the city level. We argue that the difference between these estimates reflects the congestion externalities predicted by the search literature. Our estimates also indicate that entrepreneurship should be treated as a scarce factor in the determination of labor demand. We use our estimates to evaluate the impact of large changes in the minimum wage on employment.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:108:y:2018:i:9:p:2714-57
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-24