Productivity in cities: self-selection and sorting

Anthony Venables

No 507, Economics Series Working Papers from University of Oxford, Department of Economics

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.

Keywords: economic geography; productivity; city; urban; sorting; self-selection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R0 R1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-10-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cta, nep-geo and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Productivity in cities: self-selection and sorting (2011)
Working Paper: Productivity in Cities: Self-Selection and Sorting (2010)
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