Seminario "Good Firms, Worker Flows and Local Productivity"

Jueves 7 de Agosto, 12 h | Sala de Reuniones Principal

Paper Abstract
Localized knowledge spillovers are a common explanation for the productivity advantages of agglomeration. Nevertheless if information can easily flow out of firms, the question of why the effects of spillovers are localized must be clarified.  If knowledge is embedded in workers and diffuses when workers move between firms, the strong localized aspect of knowledge spillovers may arise at least in part from the propensity of workers to change jobs within the same local labor market. In this paper I present direct evidence on the role of firm-to-firm labor mobility in enhancing the productivity of firms located near highly productive firms. Using Social Security earnings records for workers matched to detailed financial data for their employers in Veneto, a region of Italy with many successful industry clusters, I first identify a set of highly productive firms. I then show that hiring a worker with experience at highly productive firms significantly increases the productivity of other (non-highly productive) firms. I do so using different techniques, including control function approaches in the spirit of the productivity literature, and an instrumental variable strategy which exploits downsizing events at highly productive firms. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that worker flows can explain around 15 percent of the productivity gains experienced by other firms when a new highly productive firm is added to a local labor market.

Michel Serafinelli
Ph.D. in Economics, Berkeley. Assistant Professor, University of Toronto. His research and teaching fields are Labor Economics, Economics of Cities and Regions, Technology and Productivity and Political Economy.


El seminario será dictado en idioma inglés sin traducción simultánea.


Lugar: Campus Alcorta: Av. Figueroa Alcorta 7350, Ciudad de Buenos Aires.
Contacto: Cecilia Lafuente, Departamento de Economía