TY  - JOUR
AU  - Jovanovic,Boyan
AU  - Moffitt,Robert
TI  - An Estimate of a Sectoral Model of Labor Mobility
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 3227
PY  - 1990
Y2  - January 1990
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3227
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3227.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Boyan Jovanovic
New York University
Department of Economics
19 W. 4th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY  10012
Tel: 212/998-8953
Fax: 212/995-4186
E-Mail: Boyan.Jovanovic@nyu.edu

Robert A. Moffitt
Department of Economics
Johns Hopkins University
3400 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD  21218
Tel: 410/516-7611
Fax: 410/516-7600
E-Mail: moffitt@jhu.edu
AB  - This paper develops a model of sectoral labor mobility and tests its main implications. The model nests two distinct hypotheses on the origin of mobility: (a) sectoral shocks (Lucas and Prescott, 1974) and (b) worker-employer mismatch (Jovanovic, 1979, Miller, 1984, Flinn, 1986). We estimate the relative importance of each hypothesis, and find that the bulk of labor mobility is caused by mismatch rather than by sectoral shift. We then try to put a value on society's match-specific information. That is, we ask to what extent the availability of the option to change jobs raises GNP. We find that the mobility option raises expected earnings by roughly between 8.5 percent and 13 percent of labor earnings, which translates to an increase in GNP of between 6 percent and 9 percent.
ER  -