Agglomeration, Labor Supply, and the Urban Rat Race

Author(s)/Creator(s)

Stuart S. Rosenthal, Syracuse University. Center for Policy ResearchFollow
William C. Strange, University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management

Description/Abstract

This paper establishes the existence of a previously overlooked relationship between agglomeration and hours worked. Among non-professionals, hours worked decrease with the density of workers in the same occupation. Among professionals, a positive relationship is found. This relationship is twice as strong for the young as for the middle-aged. Moreover, young professional hours worked are shown to be especially sensitive to the presence of rivals. We show that these patterns are consistent with the selection of hard workers into cities and the high productivity of agglomerated labor. The behavior of young professionals is also consistent with the presence of keen rivalry in larger markets, a kind of urban rat race. This evidence of a rat race is nearly unique in the literature.

Document Type

Working Paper

Date

2003

Keywords

human capital, occupational choice, labor productivity, labor economics, urban workforce

Language

English

Series

Working Papers Series

Disciplines

Labor Economics

Additional Information

Harvest from RePEc at http://repec.org

Recommended Citation

Rosenthal, Stuart S. and Strange, William C., "Agglomeration, Labor Supply, and the Urban Rat Race" (2003). Center for Policy Research. 106.
https://surface.syr.edu/cpr/106

Source

Metadata from RePEc