Labor pooling, labor poaching and spatial clustering

Combes, Pierre-Philippe and Duranton, Gilles (2001) Labor pooling, labor poaching and spatial clustering. CEPDP (510). London School of Economics and Political Science. Centre for Economic Performance, London, UK. ISBN 075301498X

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Abstract

When firms cluster in the same local labor market, they face a trade-off between the benefits of labor pooling (i.e., access to workers whose knowledge help reduce costs) and the costs of labor poaching (i.e., loss of some key workers to competition and the indirect effect of a higher wage bill to retain the others). We explore this trade-off in a duopoly game. Depending on market size and on the degree of horizontal differentiation between products, we characterize the strategic choices of firms regarding locations, wages, poaching and prices. Our results show that co-location, although it is always efficient, is not in general the equilibrium outcome.

Item Type:	Monograph (Discussion Paper)
Official URL:	http://cep.lse.ac.uk
Additional Information:	© 2001 the authors
Divisions:	Centre for Economic Performance Geography & Environment
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
JEL classification:	L - Industrial Organization > L1 - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance > L13 - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies > J60 - General R - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics > R3 - Production Analysis and Firm Location > R32 - Other Production and Pricing Analysis
Date Deposited:	29 Jul 2008 12:25
Last Modified:	11 Dec 2024 18:29
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/20103

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