IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bav/wpaper/051_russek.html

When skilled and unskilled labor are mobile: a new economic geography approach

Author

Listed:
  • Stephan Russek

Abstract

This paper develops an analytically solvable new economic geography model of the ‘footloose entrepreneur’ class in which not only skilled labor is mobile, but also unskilled labor. Allowing unskilled labor to move freely between different regions increases the agglomeration incentive of skilled labor. Depending on the level of unskilled labor mobility, the geographical distribution of economic activity is either a ‘pitchfork’ or a ‘tomahawk’. If unskilled labor is very mobile, complete agglomeration is the only stable outcome. When trade costs are high, skilled and unskilled labor migration reinforce each other leading to agglomeration of both types of labor in the same region. For lower levels of trade cost, unskilled labor returns to its region of origin, whereas skilled labor remains concentrated.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephan Russek, 2008. "When skilled and unskilled labor are mobile: a new economic geography approach," Working Papers 051, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    • Handle: RePEc:bav:wpaper:051_russek
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://bgpe.cms.rrze.uni-erlangen.de/files/2023/07/051_When-skilled-and-unskilled-labor-are-mobile-a-new-economic-geography-approach.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2008
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Borck, Rainald & Pfluger, Michael, 2006. "Agglomeration and tax competition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 647-668, April.
    2. Gang, Ira & Bauer, Thomas, 1998. "Temporary Migrants from Egypt: How Long Do They Stay Abroad?," CEPR Discussion Papers 2003, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    3. George J. Borjas & Bernt Bratsberg, 2021. "Who Leaves? The Outmigration Of The Foreign-Born," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 5, pages 93-104, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Forslid, Rikard, 1999. "Agglomeration with Human and Physical Capital: an Analytically Solvable Case," CEPR Discussion Papers 2102, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    5. Mr. William Carrington & Ms. Enrica Detragiache, 1998. "How Big is the Brain Drain?," IMF Working Papers 1998/102, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Antolin, Pablo & Bover, Olympia, 1997. "Regional Migration in Spain: The Effect of Personal Characteristics and of Unemployment, Wage and House Price Differentials Using Pooled Cross-Sections," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 59(2), pages 215-235, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Riccardo Faini, 2003. "Is the Brain Drain an Unmitigated Blessing?," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2003-64, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Simona Monteleone, 2011. "Brain Drain and Economic Growth: A Critical Review," QA - Rivista dell'Associazione Rossi-Doria, Associazione Rossi Doria, issue 1, March.
    3. Hussain, Syed Muhammad, 2015. "Reversing the Brain Drain: Is it Beneficial?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 310-322.
    4. Rikard Forslid & Toshihiro Okubo, 2021. "Agglomeration of low-productive entrepreneurs to large regions: a simple model," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(4), pages 471-486, October.
    5. Chen Chen & Aude Bernard & Ryan Rylee & Guy Abel, 2022. "Brain Circulation: The Educational Profile of Return Migrants," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(1), pages 387-399, February.
    6. Rikard Forslid & Toshihiro Okubo, 2024. "Premature agglomeration?: Two phases of development with spatial sorting," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 92(6), pages 636-662, December.
    7. Izquierdo, Mario & Lacuesta, Aitor & Vegas, Raquel, 2009. "Assimilation of immigrants in Spain: A longitudinal analysis," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 669-678, December.
    8. Simona Monteleone, 2009. "Brain drain e crescita economica: Una rassegna critica sugli effetti prodotti," Working Papers 2_2009, D.E.S. (Department of Economic Studies), University of Naples "Parthenope", Italy.
    9. Co, Catherine Y. & Gang, Ira N. & Yun, Myeong-Su, 1998. "Returns to Returning: Who Went Abroad and What Does it Matter?," IZA Discussion Papers 19, IZA Network @ LISER.
    10. Desai, Mihir A. & Kapur, Devesh & McHale, John & Rogers, Keith, 2009. "The fiscal impact of high-skilled emigration: Flows of Indians to the U.S," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 32-44, January.
    11. Ossip Hühnerbein & Tobias Seidel, 2010. "Intra‐regional Tax Competition and Economic Geography," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(8), pages 1042-1051, August.
    12. Docquier, Frédéric, 2006. "Brain Drain and Inequality Across Nations," IZA Discussion Papers 2440, IZA Network @ LISER.
    13. De la Roca, Jorge, 2017. "Selection in initial and return migration: Evidence from moves across Spanish cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 33-53.
    14. Elisabetta Lodigiani, 2009. "Diaspora Externalities as a Cornerstone of the New Brain Drain Literature," DEM Discussion Paper Series 09-03, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    15. Jennifer Hook & Weiwei Zhang, 2011. "Who Stays? Who Goes? Selective Emigration Among the Foreign-Born," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 30(1), pages 1-24, February.
    16. Docquier, Frederic & Rapoport, Hillel, 2004. "Skilled migration: the perspective of developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3382, The World Bank.
    17. Amelie Constant & Douglas S. Massey, 2003. "Self-selection, earnings, and out-migration: A longitudinal study of immigrants to Germany," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 16(4), pages 631-653, November.
    18. Candau, Fabien, 2006. "The Spatial and Public Economics of Regions, a Theoretical and Empirical Survey," MPRA Paper 1153, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Rafael de Arce & Ramon Mahia, 2012. "Have Migrants Bought a "Round Trip Ticket"? Determinants in Probability of Immigrants' Return in Spain," Global Economy Journal (GEJ), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 12(2), pages 1-22, April.
    20. Catherine Y. Co & Ira N. Gang & Myeong-Su Yun, 2000. "Returns to returning," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 13(1), pages 57-79.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • R22 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Other Demand

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bav:wpaper:051_russek. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Anton Barabasch (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vierlde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.