A Note on Simmetry in Job Contact Networks

In this paper study the effect of simmetry on workers' aggregate output and inequality. In particular, we adopt a version with heterogeneous jobs of the model by Calvò-Armengol and Jackson (2007), in which exogenous social networks facilitate the transmission of information on job vacancies among workers. We find that: a) symmetric networks produce higher output and lower inequality than asymmetric networks and, b) the introduction of social links, having the function of ``structural holes'' (see Burt, 1992), has a larger positive effect on output and inequality if they are associated with symmetric networks.