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Good Firms, Worker Flows and Productivity

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  • Serafinelli, Michel

Abstract

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 matched employer-employee and balance sheet data for the Veneto region of Italy, I identify a set of high-wage firms (HWF) and show they are more productive than other firms. I then show that hiring a worker with HWF experience increases the productivity of other (non-HWF) firms. A simulation indicates that worker flows explain 10-15 percent of the productivity gains experienced by other firms when HWFs in the same industry are added to a local labor market.

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  • Serafinelli, Michel, 2013. "Good Firms, Worker Flows and Productivity," MPRA Paper 47508, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:47508
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    Cited by:

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    2. Bastian Stockinger & Katja Wolf, 2019. "The Productivity Effects of Worker Mobility Between Heterogeneous Firms," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 20(4), pages 492-522, November.
    3. Marzieh Abolhassani, 2024. "Productivity Spillovers of Superior Firms Through Worker Mobility," De Economist, Springer, vol. 172(1), pages 1-23, March.
    4. Thomas Cornelissen & Christian Dustmann & Uta Schönberg, 2017. "Peer Effects in the Workplace," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(2), pages 425-456, February.
    5. Evan Barlow & Gad Allon & Achal Bassamboo, 2020. "Worker poaching in a supply chain: Enemy from within?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(5), pages 695-709, July.
    6. Hunt Allcott & Daniel Keniston, 2014. "Dutch Disease or Agglomeration? The Local Economic Effects of Natural Resource Booms in Modern America," NBER Working Papers 20508, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Michèle A. Weynandt, 2014. "Selective Firing and Lemons," NRN working papers 2014-05, The Austrian Center for Labor Economics and the Analysis of the Welfare State, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    8. Elena Grinza, 2016. "Replacing Workers: Is It a Boon or a Bane for Firm Productivity?," Working papers 034, Department of Economics, Social Studies, Applied Mathematics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    productivity; agglomeration advantages; linked employer-employee data; labor mobility.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • R2 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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