Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/34892 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 3669
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
European labor markets are characterized by the low geographical mobility of workers. The absence of mobility is a factor behind high unemployment when jobless people prefer to remain in their home region rather than to go prospecting in more dynamic areas. In this paper, we attempt to understand the determinants of mobility by introducing the concept of local social capital. Using data from a European household panel (ECHP), we provide various measures of social capital, which appears to be a strong factor of immobility. It is also a fairly large factor of unemployment when social capital is clearly local, while other types of social capital are found to have a positive effect on employability. We also find evidence of the reciprocal causality, that is, individuals born in another region have accumulated less local social capital. Finally, observing that individuals in the South of Europe appear to accumulate more local social capital, while in Northern Europe they tend to invest in more general types of social capital, we argue that part of the European unemployment puzzle can be better understood thanks to the concept of local social capital.
Subjects: 
European unemployment
geographical mobility
social capital
JEL: 
J2
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
336.91 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.