The sources of the urban wage premium by worker skills: Spatial sorting or agglomeration economies?
Author
Summary, in English
We estimate the respective importance of spatial sorting and agglomeration economies in explaining the urban wage premium for workers with different sets of skills. Sorting is the main source of the wage premium. Agglomeration economies are in general small, but are larger for workers with skills associated with non-routine job tasks. They also appear to involve human capital accumulation, as evidenced by the change in the wage of workers moving away from denser regions. For workers with routine jobs, agglomeration economies are virtually non-existent. Our results provide further evidence of spatial density bringing about productivity advantages primarily in contexts when problem-solving and interaction with others are important.
Department/s
Publishing year
2014
Language
English
Publication/Series
Papers in Regional Science
Volume
93
Issue
4
Links
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Topic
- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Keywords
- Spatial sorting
- agglomeration economies
- learning
- skills
- spatial wage
- disparities
- density
- innovation
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1056-8190