Urban Labor Economics

Yves Zenou is Professor of Economics at Stockholm University and a Senior Research Fellow at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN). He is also affiliated with the Groupe d'Analyse des Itinéraires et Niveaux Salariaux (GAINS, Le Mans, France), the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR, London), and the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA, Bonn). He was previously Professor of Economics at the University of Southampton, UK, and a Research Fellow at the Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE, Belgium). Yves Zenou has also been a visiting professor at the European University Institute in Florence and Tel Aviv University. He is editor of Regional Science and Urban Economics and associate editor of the Journal of Urban Economics. His publications have appeared in leading journals such as Econometrica, Review of Economic Studies, the Journal of Economic Theory, International Economic Review, the Journal of Labor Economics, and the Journal of Public Economics.

• Introduction; Part I. Urban Search-Matching: 1. Simple models of urban search-matching; 2. Extensions of urban search-matching models; 3. Non-monocentric cities and search-matching; Part II. Urban Efficiency Wages: 4. Simple models of urban efficiency wages; 5. Extensions of urban efficiency wage models; 6. Non-monocentric cities and efficiency wages; Part III. Urban Ghettos and the Labor Market: 7. The spatial mismatch hypothesis: a search-matching approach; 8. The spatial mismatch hypothesis: an efficiency-wage approach; 9. Peer effects, social networks, and labor market outcomes in cities; General conclusion.

'In the field of urban economics, this is exactly the kind of book that I have been waiting for. Based on his persistent research work over the past twenty years, Zenou has done a great job of presenting a unified theory of urban labor economics, in which land markets and labor markets are linked in an integrated manner. After introducing the main theoretical ingredients systematically, the book addresses major policy issues, such as urban unemployment, ghettos, labor market networks, and spatial mismatches between minorities' residences and job locations. This book is a must for both urban economists and labor economists interested in cities as well as for urban policy makers.' Masahisa Fujita, Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University (KIER), Japan