Spatial versus Social Mismatch: The Strength of Weak Ties

Yves Zenou

No 2011:5, Research Papers in Economics from Stockholm University, Department of Economics

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to provide a new mechanism based on social interactions explaining why distance to jobs can have a negative impact on workers’ labor-market outcomes, especially ethnic minorities. Building on Granovetter’s idea that weak ties are superior to strong ties for providing support in getting a job, we develop a model in which workers who live far away from jobs tend to have less connections to weak ties. Because of the lack of good public transportation in the US, it is costly (both in terms of time and money) to commute to business centers to meet other types of people who can provide other source of information about jobs. If distant minority workers mainly rely on their strong ties, who are more likely to be unemployed, there is then little chance of escaping unemployment. It is therefore the separation in both the social and physical space that prevents ethnic minorities finding a job.

Keywords: Weak ties; labor market; social networks; land rent (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A14 J15 R14 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 61 pages
Date: 2011-02-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cis, nep-lab, nep-mig, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www2.ne.su.se/paper/wp11_05.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Spatial versus social mismatch (2013)
Working Paper: Spatial versus Social Mismatch: The Strength of Weak Ties (2011)
Working Paper: Spatial versus Social Mismatch: The Strength of Weak Ties (2011)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:sunrpe:2011_0005

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Research Papers in Economics from Stockholm University, Department of Economics Department of Economics, Stockholm, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Anne Jensen ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).