This paper modifies Van den Berg's (1990) nonstationary model of search, considering the existence of a firing probability. The presence of firing makes unemployed workers lower their reservation wage because of the entitlement effect embodied in accepting a job offer. In this nonstationary...

This paper develops a labour market model with on-the-job search, match-specific productivity draws and an endogenous irreversible schooling decision. The choice of schooling is modeled as an optimal stopping problem which gives rise to the equilibrium heterogeneity of workers with respect to...

This paper uses Bayesian techniques to compare three definitions of optimality for the basic job search model: the standard income-maximizing definition, an approximation to the standard definition, and a simple alternative. The important role of prior choice in these comparisons is illustrated....

In this paper we provide the first evidence on workers' perceptions of the returns to job search effort. The perceived job finding probability is nearly linear in hours searched and only slightly concave for most respondents. While workers are over-optimistic about the probability of receiving a...

This paper studies a structural model of labor market history in an environment with duration dependence. We treat the agent's job search effort explicitly as part of the dynamic decision along with a binary employment choice. The optimal policy is shown to exist and to be of the stationary...

This paper applies an equilibrium search to study the transition from schooling to work of U.S. high school graduates. We consider the case where there is heterogeneity in firm productivity and the number of firm types is discrete. For this case the estimation problem is non-standard, and the...