When skilled and unskilled labor are mobile: a new economic geography approach

Stephan Russek

No 51, Working Papers from Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE)

Abstract: This paper develops an analytically solvable new economic geography model of the ‘footloose entrepreneur’ class in which not only skilled labor is mobile, but also unskilled labor. Allowing unskilled labor to move freely between different regions increases the agglomeration incentive of skilled labor. Depending on the level of unskilled labor mobility, the geographical distribution of economic activity is either a ‘pitchfork’ or a ‘tomahawk’. If unskilled labor is very mobile, complete agglomeration is the only stable outcome. When trade costs are high, skilled and unskilled labor migration reinforce each other leading to agglomeration of both types of labor in the same region. For lower levels of trade cost, unskilled labor returns to its region of origin, whereas skilled labor remains concentrated.

Keywords: agglomeration; migration; economic geography; bifurcation pattern (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F12 F15 F22 R22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2008-04
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bav:wpaper:051_russek

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