Empirica – Journal of European Economics

Sponsored by the Austrian Economic Association and the Austrian Institute of Economic Research

Empirica publishes empirical and theoretical work on all economic aspects of European Integration. The topics may range from all challenges concerning the deepening of the European Union (Single Market, Lisbon Agenda, EMU) to enlargement and the external relations of the EU (globalisation).

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Lorenz Benedikt Fischer
Migration's inability to alleviate regional disparities: the grass is still greener on the other side of the fence
in: Peter Huber, Dieter Pennerstorfer, Digitalization, Urban Sprawl and Regional Economics – Selected Papers of the 10th WIFO Regional Economics Workshop at the Austrian Institute of Economic Research, Vienna, 25-26 September 2017
Empirica, 2019, 46(1), pp.5-29, http://www.springer.com/10663
This paper attempts to explain the seeming unresponsiveness of labour to react to economic disparities in terms of migration. In theory, the potential of workers to implicitly alleviate regional disparities in, for example, unemployment or wage levels by relocating appears potent, but finds little support empirically. To resolve this perplexity, a dynamic discrete choice model is used, which translates into a two stage estimation strategy for recovering structural parameters. Investigating Austrian bilateral movements on the NUTS 3 level from 2002 to 2014, the results suggest that this unresponsiveness builds on two pillars. First, estimated average migration costs are in the range of six times the average annual wage, which appears sizable enough to prevent taking advantage of economic opportunities for workers. These costs are shown to have decreased over time, though. Second, the relatively high variation in the random utility shifter can be interpreted as relative unimportance of regional disparities in forming migration decisions. Finally, a spatial approach on estimated regional valuations reveals an apparent "beauty contest" of regions, where regions' own valuations suffer from proximity to highly attractive ones.
JEL-Codes:R10 R23 C31 C35 D15
Keywords:Regional migration, Dynamic discrete choice, Gravity, Migration costs, Regional disparities
Research group:Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis
Language:English

Managing Editor

Univ.-Prof. MMag. Dr. Harald Oberhofer

Function: Senior Economist, Editor-in-Chief Empirica
Research groups: Industrial, Innovation and International Economics