Journal
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
Volume 11, Issue 5, Pages 865-895Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/jeg/lbq016
Keywords
economic geography; market potential; wage inequality; skill premium; E40; U00; R00; L10
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This article investigates the distributional aspect of market access. Following the New Economic Geography literature, we derive a spatial skill demand equation that positively links skill premiums to market access. Using data from US metropolitan areas, we show that not only are average wages greater in metropolitan areas with higher market access, but wage differentials are also more unequally distributed. Specifically, greater market access is linked to relatively weaker (stronger) outcomes for those at the bottom (top) of the wage distribution. Further assessment finds that market potential is favorably associated with greater shares of high-skilled workers. The analysis provides further rationale for the much-observed positive relationship between the metropolitan area's share of high-skilled workers and its skilled-worker wage premium (all else constant).
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available