Firms Left Behind: Emigration and Firm Productivity

Arbeitspapier

This paper establishes a causal link between the emigration of skilled workers and firm performance in source countries. Using firm-level panel data from ten Eastern European countries, we show that the emigration of skilled workers lowers firm total factor productivity. We exploit time, country, and industry differences in the opening of EU labor markets from 2004 to 2014 as a source of exogenous variation in the emigration rates from new EU member states. We argue that a potential channel behind this effect relates to the reduction in firm-specific human capital due to a higher worker turnover.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 6815

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration ; Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity ; International Migration ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
• Subject: migration ; firm productivity ; human capital ; EU enlargement

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Giesing, Yvonne ; Laurentsyeva, Nadzeya
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2017

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/174938
• Last update: 02.08.2029, 8:43 AM CEST