Geographic Mobility over the Life Cycle

Díaz, Antonia, Alvaro Janez and Felix Wellschmied

No 21006, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: When opportunities vary across locations and mobility is frictional, economic outcomes depend on birthplace. Using Spanish micro data and a life-cycle model, we show that location differences mainly reflect variation in (i) skill accumulation, (ii) job stability and opportunities, and (iii) information about alternative locations. For young individuals, information costs are the main barrier to mobility. Consequently, transfers to residents of distressed areas reduce inequality in economic outcomes with little effect on mobility. In contrast, policies that financially incentivize moving to high-opportunity locations increase inequality and do not significantly raise mobility toward those locations.

Keywords: Mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E20 E24 E60 J21 J61 J63 J64 J68 R23 R31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-01
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