How Local Are Labor Markets? Evidence from a Spatial Job Search Model
构建空间求职模型，发现劳动力市场非常本地化，工作对求职者的吸引力随距离急剧下降，且竞争会抑制远距离求职，但市场重叠使本地刺激或交通改善的效果被涟漪效应稀释。
This paper models the optimal search strategies of the unemployed across space to characterize local labor markets. Our methodology allows for linkages between numerous areas, while preserving tractability. We estimate that labor markets are quite local, as the attractiveness of jobs to applicants sharply decays with distance. Also, workers are discouraged from searching in areas with strong competition from other job-seekers. However, as labor markets overlap, a local stimulus or transport improvements have modest effects on local outcomes, because ripple effects in job applications dilute their impact across a series of overlapping markets.