Job Contact Networks, Inequality and Aggregate Output

Andrea Lavezzi and Nicola Meccheri ()

Discussion Papers from Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Abstract: In this paper we study the effects of social networks on wage inequality and aggregate production. In particular, we consider a simplified version of the model by Calvo'-Armengol and Jackson (2003), with good and bad jobs and skilled and unskilled workers. Our findings are: i) increasing the number of social links increases aggregate output and may reduce inequality; ii) given a number of social connections, output increases if the average distance among worker decreases; iii) a more mixed and well-integrated society, that is a society in which heterogeneous workers share social links, produces more output and less inequality than a society in which some workers are isolated, when productivity of the most productive agents in the best jobs is sufficiently low. We draw some policy implications from these results.

Keywords: Social Networks; Wage Inequality; Aggregate Output (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A14 J31 J38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004-01-01
Note: ISSN 2039-1854
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.ec.unipi.it/documents/Ricerca/papers/2004-42.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Chapter: Job contact networks, inequality and aggregate output (2005)
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:pie:dsedps:2004/42

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Discussion Papers from Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().