Motivated by large educational differences in geographic mobility, this paper considers a simple dynamic extension of Roy's (1951) model and analyzes it using new evidence on net versus excess mobility and the individual-level relationship between mobility and wages. According to the model, the...

In the US unemployment insurance (UI) system, only a fraction of those eligible for benefits actually collect them. We estimate this fraction using CPS data and detailed state-level eligibility criteria. We find that the fraction of eligible unemployed collecting benefits has been persistently...

Considerable labor mobility exists across U.S. states, enough that, if migration arbitrages local unemployment, one might expect very low unemployment differences across states. However, cross-state data reveal large unemployment differences. An equilibrium multi-location model with stochastic...

This paper proposes a moment-matching method for approximating vector autoregressions by finite-state Markov chains. The Markov chain is constructed by targeting the conditional moments of the underlying continuous process. The proposed method is more robust to the number of discrete values and...

A simple equilibrium model of sectoral reallocation is developed in order to study the impact of heterogeneous moving costs on unemployment. The model blends key elements of standard sectoral reallocation theory and the competitive search model. Heterogeneity in moving costs is introduced via...

In the U.S., the cross-state differences in unemployment rates are large - for instance, large compared to variations in the national unemployment rate over time. At the same time, there is considerable labor mobility within the U.S.; in fact, enough that, if migration arbitrages differences in...

Recent work of Galindev and Lkhagvasuren (2009) shows that for highly persistent autoregressive processes Rouwenhorst's (1995) method outperforms other existing methods in the scalar case along key lower-order moments. Although lower order moments are sufficient to evaluate the existing few...

Reasonably calibrated versions of the Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides search and matching model of unemployment underpredict, by a wide margin, the volatility of vacancies, unemployment, and the vacancies-unemployment ratio - variables at the heart of this model. These shortcomings motivate two...

Shimer's puzzle is that the textbook Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides model exhibits fluctuations in labor market variables that are an order of magnitude too small. Introducing search effort of the unemployed brings the model's predictions for these fluctuations very close to those seen in the...

It is well known that the Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides model exhibits a strong trade-off between cyclical unemployment fluctuations and the size of rents to employment. Introducing endogenous job search effort reduces the strength of the trade-off while bringing the model closer to the data....