Opening the Black Box of the Matching Function: The Power of Words

Ioana Marinescu and Ronald Wolthoff

Journal of Labor Economics, 2020, vol. 38, issue 2, 535 - 568

Abstract: On the leading job board CareerBuilder.com, high-wage job postings unexpectedly attract fewer applicants, and this is the case even within a detailed occupation. Viewed through the lens of our directed search model, this negative relationship is indicative of substantial applicant heterogeneity within an occupation. Empirically, we find that job title heterogeneity is key: within a job title, jobs with 10% higher wages do attract 7.7% more applicants. Furthermore, our findings are consistent with a higher return to worker quality for hires in “manager” and “senior” job titles. Overall, our findings demonstrate the power of words in the matching process.

Date: 2020
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Related works:
Working Paper: Opening the Black Box of the Matching Function: The Power of Words (2016)
Working Paper: Opening the Black Box of the Matching Function: the Power of Words (2016)
Working Paper: Opening the Black Box of the Matching Function: The Power of Words (2015)
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