Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/247674 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
ICIR Working Paper Series No. 44/21
Publisher: 
Goethe University Frankfurt, International Center for Insurance Regulation (ICIR), Frankfurt a. M.
Abstract: 
I measure the effects of workers' mobility across regions of different productivity through the lens of a search and matching model with heterogeneous workers and firms estimated with administrative data. In an application to Italy, I find that reallocation of workers to the most productive region boosts productivity at the country level but amplifies differentials across regions. Employment rates decline as migrants foster job competition, and inequality between workers doubles in less productive areas since displacement is particularly severe for low-skill workers. Migration does affect mismatch: mobility favors co-location of agents with similar productivity but within-region rank correlation declines in the most productive region. I show that worker-firm complementarities in production account for 33% of the productivity gains. Place-based programs directed to firms, like incentives for hiring unemployed or creating high productivity jobs, raise employment rates and reduce the gaps in productivity across regions. In contrast, subsidies to attract high-skill workers in the South have limited effects.
Subjects: 
cross-regional mobility
mismatch
search-matching
sorting
productivity differentials
JEL: 
J61
J64
R13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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