ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY OF FIRMS AND SKILLED LABOR*
构建新经济地理模型，分析企业与技能劳动力的区位关系，发现贸易成本低时技能劳动力池吸引企业，高时可能排斥；技能劳动力比企业更快集聚，且企业追随技能劳动力而非相反。
ABSTRACT This paper investigates the relationship between firm location and skilled-labor location. While existing new economic geography (NEG) models could not explicitly analyze the relationship due to their assumptions, I construct a new NEG-type model allowing for different location dynamics of firms and skilled labor for this objective. The main results are as follows. First, a relatively large pool of skilled labor attracts firms when trade costs are small, while it might repel firms when trade costs are sufficiently large. Second, assuming that skilled workers are mobile between regions, the model shows that skilled workers agglomerate faster than firms with decreasing trade costs. Third, the model supports the hypothesis that firms follow skilled labor rather than the reverse. These results are consistent to Indian and Chinese experiences, and some “creative-class” or “skilled-city” stories.