A Firm-Level Perspective on Migration

27 Pages Posted: 9 May 2012

See all articles by Giulia Bettin

Giulia Bettin

Università Politecnica delle Marche - Department of Economics

Alessia Lo Turco

Università Politecnica delle Marche - Department of Economics and Social Sciences

Daniela Maggioni

Polytechnic University of Marche

Date Written: March 1, 2012

Abstract

A production-theory approach to migration is adopted in this paper to address the role of migrant workers from extra-EU countries in Italian manufacturing production at the firm-level. The use of flexible functional forms to model firm-level technology lets us directly derive different measures of elasticity from the coefficients of the estimated production and cost functions. Cross price and demand elasticities confirm the complementarity found in previous studies between migrants and natives. However, the two labour inputs prove to be substitute in terms of Morishima elasticity of substitution. The use of foreign labour is shown to affect also the industry composition. We find that, ceteris paribus, had migrant labour not grown in our sample period, the weight of Low Skill intensive sectors would have been approximately 2% lower and the white to blue collars ratio would have been slightly higher than observed, even accounting for the complementarity between natives and migrants.

Keywords: migrant workers, manufacturing production technology, elasticity

JEL Classification: F22, D22, J61, L60

Suggested Citation

Bettin, Giulia and Lo Turco, Alessia and Maggioni, Daniela, A Firm-Level Perspective on Migration (March 1, 2012). Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano Development Studies Working Paper No. 328, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2054718 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2054718

Giulia Bettin (Contact Author)

Università Politecnica delle Marche - Department of Economics ( email )

Piazzale Martelli 8
Ancona, 18039
Italy
+39 071 2207079 (Phone)
+39 071 2207102 (Fax)

Alessia Lo Turco

Università Politecnica delle Marche - Department of Economics and Social Sciences ( email )

Piazzale Martelli 8
Ancona
Italy
+390712207250 (Phone)

Daniela Maggioni

Polytechnic University of Marche ( email )

Piazzale Martelli 8
Ancona, 18039
Italy

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