We study the labor markets in China and the United States, the two largest economies in the world, by examining the evolution of their cross-sectional age-earnings profiles during the past thirty years.

We document a robust set of facts on spatial differences in unemployment, vacancies, and job filling, finding, and separation rates, and develop a theory of the geography of labor market dynamics.

We study a model where Becker meets Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides and Bewley-Huggett-Aiyagari.

The paper was presented at the 2022 Carnegie-Rochester-NYU Conference on Public Policy on “Economic Resilience and Interconnectedness” held at the Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh on November 11-12, 2022.

This paper aims to quantify the mechanisms and the extent to which parental wage risk passes through to children’s skill development.