Abstract
Productivity is high in cities partly because the urban environment acts as a self-selection mechanism. If workers have imperfect information about the quality of workers with whom they match and matches take place within cities, then high-ability workers will choose to live and work in expensive cities. This self-selection improves the quality of matches in such cities. The mechanism may be reinforced by the development of informational networks in cities with a large proportion of high-ability workers. As a consequence productivity in these cities is high for workers of all ability types.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 241-251 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Journal of Economic Geography |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Mar 2011 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- City
- Economic geography
- Productivity
- Self-selection
- Sorting
- Urban