Abstract

This article examines the effects of specialized knowledge on the geographic concentration of occupations across US metropolitan areas. Controlling for a wide range of other attributes, empirical results reveal that occupations with a unique knowledge base exhibit higher levels of concentration than those with generic knowledge requirements. This result is robust to the use of several model specifications and instrumental variables estimation that relies on an instrument set representing the means by which people acquire knowledge. Thus, the study suggests that the benefits of labor market pooling are particularly apparent in cases where workers require a specialized knowledge base.

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