Efficiency of Thin and Thick Markets / Li Gan, Qi Li.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gan, Li.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Li, Qi.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w10815.

NBER working paper series no. w10815

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2004.

Summary:

In this paper, we propose a matching model to study the efficiency of thin and thick markets. Our model shows that the probabilities of matches in a thin market are significantly lower than those in a thick market. When applying our results to a job search model, it implies that, if the ratio of job candidates to job openings remains (roughly) a constant, the probability that a person can find a job is higher in a thick market than in a thin market. We apply our matching model to the U.S. academic market for new PhD economists. Consistent with the prediction of our model, a field of specialization with more job openings and more candidates has a higher probability of matching.

Notes:

Print version record

October 2004.