Shaped by Urban-Rural Divide and Skill: The Drivers of Internal Mobility in Italy

Angela Stefania Bergantino (), Antonello Clemente (), Stefano Iandolo () and Riccardo Turati
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Angela Stefania Bergantino: University of Bari
Antonello Clemente: University of Bari
Stefano Iandolo: University of Salerno

No 18203, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper examines the evolution and determinants of skill-specific internal mobility among Italian citizens by urban–rural origin. Using administrative data from the Registry of Transfer of Residence (ADELE), which records the universe of skill-specific bilateral moves across more than 700 millions potential municipality pairs between 2012 and 2022, we document distinct trends in residential mobility for college-educated and non-college-educated citizens. We then assess the role of economic and non-economic factors in shaping these flows, employing a Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood (PPML) estimator with an extensive set of destination and origin-by-nest fixed effects. Our findings show that low-skilled movers respond more strongly to economic factors, while high-skilled movers are respond more to non-economic ones, with the urban–rural divide at origin amplifying these differences. Moreover, we find that after the COVID-19 pandemic, economic drivers became less relevant, whereas non-economic factors gained importance. Overall, this study highlights that, similar to international migration, the drivers of internal mobility are inherently skill-specific.

Keywords: Italy; urban-rural; human capital; migration; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 J61 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma, nep-mig and nep-ure
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Related works:
Working Paper: Shaped by Urban-Rural Divide and Skill: the Drivers of Internal Mobility in Italy (2025)
Working Paper: Shaped by Urban-Rural Divide and Skill: the Drivers of Internal Mobility in Italy (2025)
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