Labor Mobility: Implications for Asset Pricing
38 Pages Posted: 26 Nov 2010 Last revised: 30 Oct 2016
There are 2 versions of this paper
Labor Mobility: Implications for Asset Pricing
Labor Mobility and the Cross-Section of Expected Returns
Date Written: May 1, 2013
Abstract
Labor mobility is the flexibility of workers to walk away from an industry in response to better opportunities. I develop a model in which labor flows make bad times worse for shareholders who are left with capital that is less productive. The model shows that firms face greater operating leverage by providing flexibility to mobile workers. I construct an empirical measure of labor mobility consistent with the model and document an economically significant cross-sectional relation between mobility, operating leverage, and stock returns. I find that firms in mobile industries earn returns over 5% higher than those in less mobile industries.
Measure of labor mobility used in the paper is available in my website.
Keywords: Asset Pricing, Labor Mobility, Expected Returns, Cross-Section
JEL Classification: G12
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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