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  3. American Economic Review
  4. May 2023
  5. Information, Mobile Communication, and Referral Effects

Information, Mobile Communication, and Referral Effects

  • Panle Jia Barwick
  • Yanyan Liu
  • Eleonora Patacchini
  • Qi Wu
American Economic Review
vol. 113, no. 5, May 2023
(pp. 1170-1207)
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Abstract

This paper uses the universe of cellphone records from a Chinese telecommunication provider for a northern Chinese city to examine the role of information exchange in urban labor markets. We provide the first direct evidence of increased communication among referral pairs around job changes. Information provided by social contacts mitigates information asymmetry and improves labor market performance.

Citation

Barwick, Panle Jia, Yanyan Liu, Eleonora Patacchini, and Qi Wu. 2023. "Information, Mobile Communication, and Referral Effects." American Economic Review, 113 (5): 1170-1207. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20200187

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • D82 Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
  • J62 Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
  • O18 Economic Development: Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
  • P23 Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: Factor and Product Markets; Industry Studies; Population
  • P25 Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics
  • R23 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics
  • Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification