Location, search costs and youth unemployment: experimental evidence from transport subsidies

Franklin, Simon (2018) Location, search costs and youth unemployment: experimental evidence from transport subsidies. The Economic Journal, 128 (694). pp. 2353-2379. ISSN 0013-0133

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Abstract

Do high search costs affect the labour market outcomes of jobseekers living far away from jobs? I randomly assign transport subsidies to unemployed youth in urban Ethiopia. Treated respondents increase job search intensity and are more likely to find good, permanent, jobs. Subsidies also induce a short‐term reduction in temporary work. I use a high‐frequency phone call survey to track the trajectory of search behaviour over time to show that the subsidies significantly increased job search intensity and the use of formal search methods. The evidence suggests that cash constraints cause young people to give up looking for good jobs too early.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14680297
Additional Information:	© 2017 Royal Economic Society
Divisions:	Centre for Economic Performance
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
Date Deposited:	15 May 2018 09:50
Last Modified:	18 Apr 2024 16:24
Funders:	World Bank, OxCarre, Multi Donor Trust Fund on Sustainable Urbanization of the World Bank, UK Department for International Development, Ethiopian Development Research Institute
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/87938

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