Local Social Capital and Geographical Mobility: Some Empirics and a Conjecture on the Nature of European Unemployment

Quentin David, Alexandre Janiak and Etienne Wasmer

No 3669, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: European labor markets are characterized by the low geographical mobility of workers. The absence of mobility is a factor behind high unemployment when jobless people prefer to remain in their home region rather than to go prospecting in more dynamic areas. In this paper, we attempt to understand the determinants of mobility by introducing the concept of local social capital. Using data from a European household panel (ECHP), we provide various measures of social capital, which appears to be a strong factor of immobility. It is also a fairly large factor of unemployment when social capital is clearly local, while other types of social capital are found to have a positive effect on employability. We also find evidence of the reciprocal causality, that is, individuals born in another region have accumulated less local social capital. Finally, observing that individuals in the South of Europe appear to accumulate more local social capital, while in Northern Europe they tend to invest in more general types of social capital, we argue that part of the European unemployment puzzle can be better understood thanks to the concept of local social capital.

Keywords: geographical mobility; European unemployment; social capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J2 J61 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2008-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec, nep-mig, nep-soc and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published - merged with DP 3668 into "Social Capital, Mobility and Unemployment in Europe", published in: Journal of Urban Economics, 2010, 68 (2), 191-204

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Related works:
Working Paper: Local Social Capital and Geographical Mobility: Some Empirics and a Conjecture on the Nature of European Unemployment (2008)
Working Paper: Local Social Capital and Geographical Mobility: Some Empirics and a Conjecture on the Nature of European Unemployment (2008)
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