Katz, Lawrence F.Diamond, Rebecca2014-06-242014-06-242013Diamond, Rebecca. 2013. Essays in Local Labor Economics. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University.http://dissertations.umi.com/gsas.harvard:10813http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:12362593This dissertation consists of three independent chapters. Chapter 1 examines the determinants and welfare implications of the increased geographic of workers by skill from 1980 to 2000. I estimate a structural spatial equilibrium model of local labor demand, housing supply, labor supply, and amenity levels. The estimates indicate that cross-city changes in firms' demands for high and low skill labor were the underlying forces driving the increase in geographic skill sorting. I find that the combined effects of changes in cities' wages, rents, and endogenous amenities increased well-being inequality between high school and college graduates by a significantly larger amount than would be suggested by the increase in the college wage gap alone.en-USEconomicsEconomics, Laborlabor economicsurban economicsThesis or Dissertation2014-06-24