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Moving to Segregation: Evidence from 8 Italian cities

Author

Listed:
  • Tito Boeri

    (IGIER-Bocconi University, CEPR, fRDB and IZA)

  • Marta De Philippis

    (LSE and fRDB)

  • Eleonora Patacchini

    (Universita’ di Roma La Sapienza, CEPR, EIEF and IZA)

  • Michele Pelizzari

    (IGIER-Bocconi University, fRDB and IZA)

Abstract

We use a new dataset and a novel identification strategy to analyze the effects on labor market outcomes of residential segregation of migrants in 8 Italian cities. Our data are representative of the population of both legal and illegal migrants, allow us to measure segregation at the very local level (the block) and include measures of housing prices, commuting costs and migrants’ linguistic ability. We find evidence that migrants who reside in areas with a high concentration of non-Italians are less likely to be employed compared to similar migrants who reside in less segregated areas. In our preferred specification, a 10 percentage points increase in residential segregation reduces the probability of being employed by 7 percentage points or about 8% over the average. Additionally, we also show that this effect emerges only above a critical threshold of 15-20% of migrants over the total local population, below which there is no statistically detectable effect. Contrary to common wisdom, in our data migrants seem to be positively selected into segregated areas. A simple matching model with heterogeneous workers and endogenous sorting into heterogeneous locations rationalizes our findings and is supported by additional empirical results.

Suggested Citation

  • Tito Boeri & Marta De Philippis & Eleonora Patacchini & Michele Pelizzari, 2010. "Moving to Segregation: Evidence from 8 Italian cities," EIEF Working Papers Series 1109, Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF), revised Apr 2011.
  • Handle: RePEc:eie:wpaper:1109
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

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