Local labor markets and the persistence of population shocks

Arbeitspapier

This paper studies the persistence of a large, unexpected, and regionally very unevenly distributed population shock, the inflow of eight million ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe to West Germany after World War II. Using detailed census data from 1939 to 1970, we show that the shock had a persistent effect on the distribution of population within local labor markets, but only a temporary effect on the distribution between labor markets. These results suggest that locational fundamentals determine population patterns across but not within local labor markets, and they can help to explain why previous studies on the persistence of population shocks reached such different conclusions.

Object Details

• ISBN: 978-3-86788-831-8
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Ruhr Economic Papers ; No. 712

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers ; Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity ; Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics ; Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Europe: 1913-
• Subject: population shock ; locational fundamentals ; agglomeration economies ; regional migration ; postwar Germany

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Braun, Sebastian ; Kramer, Anica ; Kvasnicka, Michael
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung
• (where): Essen
• (when): 2017

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.4419/86788831
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/170699
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET