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Estimating the Heterogeneous Impact of the Free Movement of Persons on Relative Wage Mobility

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  • Naguib, Costanza

Abstract

We analyse the impact of an inflow of foreign workers on positional wage mobility in a small open economy like Switzerland. We exploit the quasi-natural experiment constituted by the entry into force of the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons between Switzerland and the EU on 1st June 2002. We compute conditional average treatment effects with machine learning methods, and we find evidence of relevant heterogeneity in the impact of this policy on wage mobility.

Suggested Citation

  • Naguib, Costanza, 2019. "Estimating the Heterogeneous Impact of the Free Movement of Persons on Relative Wage Mobility," Economics Working Paper Series 1903, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:usg:econwp:2019:03
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    Cited by:

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    2. Maria Esther Oswald-Egg & Michael Siegenthaler, 2021. "Train drain? Access to skilled foreign workers and firms' provision of training," KOF Working papers 21-495, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    3. Jason Poulos & Andrea Albanese & Andrea Mercatanti & Fan Li, 2021. "Retrospective causal inference via matrix completion, with an evaluation of the effect of European integration on cross-border employment," LISER Working Paper Series 2021-07, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    4. Buechel, Berno & Gangl, Selina & Huber, Martin, 2023. "How residence permits affect the labor market attachment of foreign workers: Evidence from a migration lottery in Liechtenstein," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    5. Maria Esther Oswald-Egg & Michael Siegenthaler, 2021. "Train drain? Access to skilled foreign workers and firms' provision of training," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0186, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wage mobility; Bilateral Agreements; causal forest; Conditional Average Treatment Effect;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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