This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Wages and the City. The Italian case

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Sabrina Di Addario
Eleonora Patacchini

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

We analyze empirically the impact of urban agglomeration on Italian wages. Using micro-data from the Bank of Italy`s Survey of Household Income and Wealth for the years 1995, 1998, 2000 and 2002 on more than 22,000 employees distributed to 242 randomly drawn local labor markets (30 percent of the total), we test whether the structure of wages varies with urban scale. We find that every additional 100 employees per square kilometer (100,000 inhabitants) in the local labor market raises earnings by 0.4-0.6 percent (0.1 percent) and that employees working in large cities earn, on average, 2-3 percent higher wages than those in the rest of the economy. The application of spatial data analysis techniques enables us to state that this effect is present only in the large cities surrounded by low-populated areas. We also find that urbanization does not affect returns to experience and that it reduces returns to education and to tenure with current firm, while providing a premium to managers, worker supervisors, and office workers.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/Research/wp/pdf/paper243.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by University of Oxford, Department of Economics in its series Economics Series Working Papers with number 243.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: 2005
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:oxf:wpaper:243

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Manor Rd. Building, Oxford, OX1 3UQ
Email:
Web page: http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Mark George).

Related research
Keywords: Wage Differentials; Urbanization; Agglomeration Externalities; Population Clustering; Spatial Autocorrelation;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
R12 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Ciccone, Antonio & Hall, Robert E, 1996. "Productivity and the Density of Economic Activity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 54-70, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Gilles Duranton, 2001. "Labor Pooling, Labor Poaching and Spatial Clustering," CEP Discussion Papers dp0510, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Diamond, Charles A & Simon, Curtis J, 1990. "Industrial Specialization and the Returns to Labor," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(2), pages 175-201, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Ciccone, Antonio, 2002. "Agglomeration effects in Europe," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 213-227, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. David Card, 1995. "The Wage Curve: A Review," Working Papers 722, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Glaeser, Edward L., 1999. "Learning in Cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 254-277, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Jacob Mincer, 1958. "Investment in Human Capital and Personal Income Distribution," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66, pages 281. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Trostel, Philip & Walker, Ian & Woolley, Paul, 2002. "Estimates of the economic return to schooling for 28 countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Kim, Sunwoong, 1990. "Labor heterogeneity, wage bargaining, and agglomeration economies," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 160-177, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Moomaw, Ronald L., 1983. "Is population scale a worthless surrogate for business agglomeration economies?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 525-545, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Federico Cingano & Fabiano Schivardi, 2004. "Identifying the Sources of Local Productivity Growth," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(4), pages 720-742, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. Stevens, Margaret, 1994. "A Theoretical Model of On-the-Job Training with Imperfect Competition," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(4), pages 537-62, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Moretti, Enrico, 2004. "Human capital externalities in cities," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 51, pages 2243-2291 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Sabrina Di Addario, 2005. "Job Search in Thick Markets: Evidence from Italy," Economics Series Working Papers 235, University of Oxford, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  15. Charles I. Jones, 2002. "Sources of U.S. Economic Growth in a World of Ideas," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 220-239, March. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  16. repec:fth:prinin:343 is not listed on IDEAS
  17. Sascha Becker & Andrea Ichino & Giovanni Peri, 2003. "How Large is the "Brain Drain" from Italy?," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  18. Helsley, Robert W. & Strange, William C., 1990. "Matching and agglomeration economies in a system of cities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 189-212, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Ciccone, Antonio & Peri, Giovanni, 2000. "Human Capital and Externalities in Cities," CEPR Discussion Papers 2599, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  20. Card, David, 2001. "Estimating the Return to Schooling: Progress on Some Persistent Econometric Problems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(5), pages 1127-60, September.
    Other versions:
  21. Psacharopoulos, George, 1994. "Returns to investment in education: A global update," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(9), pages 1325-1343, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  22. Carlo Dell’Aringa & Claudio Lucifora & Federica Origo, 2005. "Public Sector Pay and Regional Competitiveness: A First Look at Regional Public-Private Wage Differentials in Italy," IZA Discussion Papers 1828, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  23. Glaeser, Edward L & Mare, David C, 2001. "Cities and Skills," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(2), pages 316-42, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  24. Margaret Stevens, 2003. "Earnings Functions, Specific Human Capital, and Job Matching: Tenure Bias Is Negative," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(4), pages 783-806, October. [Downloadable!]
  25. Tabuchi, Takatoshi & Yoshida, Atsushi, 2000. "Separating Urban Agglomeration Economies in Consumption and Production," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 70-84, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  26. Gyourko, Joseph & Kahn, Matthew & Tracy, Joseph, 1999. "Quality of life and environmental comparisons," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: P. C. Cheshire & E. S. Mills (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 37, pages 1413-1454 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  27. Magali Beffy & Moshe Buchinsky & Denis Fougère & Thierry Kamionka & Francis Kramarz, 2006. "The Returns to Seniority in France (and Why Are They Lower than in the United States?)," IZA Discussion Papers 1935, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  28. Rosenthal, Stuart S. & Strange, William C., 2004. "Evidence on the nature and sources of agglomeration economies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 49, pages 2119-2171 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  29. Benabou, Roland, 1993. "Workings of a City: Location, Education, and Production," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 108(3), pages 619-52, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  30. Topel, Robert H, 1991. "Specific Capital, Mobility, and Wages: Wages Rise with Job Seniority," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(1), pages 145-76, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  31. Wheaton, William C. & Lewis, Mark J., 2002. "Urban Wages and Labor Market Agglomeration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 542-562, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  32. Dwight W. Adamson & David E. Clark & Mark D. Partridge, 2004. "Do Urban Agglomeration Effects and Household Amenities have a Skill Bias?," Journal of Regional Science, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(2), pages 201-224. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  33. Brunello, Giorgio, 2001. "On the Complementarity between Education and Training in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 309, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  34. Roback, Jennifer, 1982. "Wages, Rents, and the Quality of Life," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(6), pages 1257-78, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  35. Simon, Curtis J, 1988. "Frictional Unemployment and the Role of Industrial Diversity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 103(4), pages 715-28, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  36. Combes, Pierre-Philippe & Duranton, Gilles & Gobillon, Laurent, 2004. "Spatial Wage Disparities: Sorting Matters!," CEPR Discussion Papers 4240, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  37. Adriaan S. Kalwij & Mary Gregory, 2005. "A panel data analysis of the effects of wages, standard hours and unionization on paid overtime work in Britain," Journal Of The Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 168(1), pages 207-231. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  38. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2004. "Micro-foundations of urban agglomeration economies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 48, pages 2063-2117 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Sabrina Di Addario & Eleonora Patacchini, 2006. "Is there an urban wage premium in Italy?," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 570, Bank of Italy, Economic Research Department. [Downloadable!]
  2. Eleonora Patacchini, 2008. "Local analysis of economic disparities in Italy: a spatial statistics approach," Statistical Methods and Applications, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 85-112, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? Data contributors to RePEc receive monthly emails with details about downloads and abstract views of their works.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-30.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.