《JUE Insight: Using the mode to test for selection in city size wage premia》

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作者
Hugo Jales;Boqian Jiang;Stuart S. Rosenthal
来源
来源 JOURNAL OF URBAN ECONOMICS,Vol.133,P.
语言
英文
关键字
Selection;Mode;Agglomeration Economies;R00;J30;C24
作者单位
Department of Economics and Center for Policy Research, Syracuse University Syracuse, New York 13244-1020;Amazon Inc., Seattle;Maxwell Advisory Board Professor of Economics, Department of Economics and Center for Policy Research, Syracuse University Syracuse, New York 13244-1020;Department of Economics and Center for Policy Research, Syracuse University Syracuse, New York 13244-1020;Amazon Inc., Seattle;Maxwell Advisory Board Professor of Economics, Department of Economics and Center for Policy Research, Syracuse University Syracuse, New York 13244-1020
摘要
The causal effect of city size on urban wage premia has been difficult to measure because unusually skilled workers may select into large city labor markets. We propose a new approach to this challenge. For single-peaked wage distributions, if individuals left of the mode disproportionately select out of large city labor markets, the CDF evaluated at the mode shrinks as city size increases. Among college trained, white full-time US workers, evidence of selection is present even after conditioning on extensive observable attributes. Among individuals with a high school degree or less, selection is absent. Additional estimates indicate that for college trained workers, 3.5% is an upper bound on the modal worker's wage elasticity with respect to city size. For those with limited education we can be more precise: modal wage elasticity is 3.9% for men and 5.2% for married women.