Segmentation,Mobility and the Spatial Distribution of Activities

Abstract. The paper discusses the relationship between labor economics' segmentation theory and the polarization theories of regional economics. It is argued that labor market segmentation and regional disparities are fundamentally related and that one is both cause and consequence of the other. The argument is developed around the locational requirements of various functions of entreprises on the one hand and worker's schooling and migration decisions on the other. As can be shown, interregional labor mobility that is usually considered to be an important factor in equilibrating regional disparities enforces the interregional differentiation in a model allowing for a segmented labor market. The paper closes with reference of a few fundamental hypotheses that can be derived from the model and cites empirical evidence supporting this view.