Job Market Paper

The impact of multinational firms on local labour markets - what drives the effect on domestic workers? 

Data access funded by "A Sustainable Future" (ASF): Project description

Link to GitHub: https://github.com/lisamati/JM/blob/main/LisaTimm_JMP_MNE.pdf

Abstract:
This paper investigates how the presence of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in a local labour market affects wages and employment in domestic firms. Specifically, I focus on the (local) labour demand by MNEs and I use the variation of the share of migrants hired by MNEs to investigate to what extent labour demand or spillovers drive potential wage effects. To circumvent endogeneity of MNE location choice, I use the variation of industry structures across local labour markets to construct a shift-share variable. Using administrative data of the universe of workers and firms from the Netherlands, I find a positive, sizeable and statistically significant effect of MNE presence on wages for newly hired workers in domestic firms. This effect is stronger in local labour markets where MNEs hire relatively few migrants (relatively more domestic workers), suggesting that labour demand drives the positive effect of MNEs on domestic wages. 

Publication

Tax incentives for migrants with mid-level earnings: evidence from the Netherlands

(joint with M. Giuliodori and P. Muller)
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (forthcoming)
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20230438&&from=f

Abstract: 

We examine how income taxes affect international mobility and wages. We study a Dutch preferential tax scheme for migrants, which introduced an income threshold for eligibility in 2012. The threshold is low relative to similar schemes in other countries, thereby offering eligibility to migrants with mid-level earnings. We find that migration more than doubles closely above the income threshold, while migration below the threshold remains unchanged. These effects appear to be driven by additional migration, while wage bargaining responses are limited. We estimate a migration elasticity ranging between 1.6-2.7, somewhat higher than most studies on high-income migrants have found.

Keywords: international migration, income tax benefits, wage bargaining, bunching.

Full paper: Tinbergen Discussion Paper No. 22-068/V, IZA Working Paper No. 15582

News: Hervorming expatregeling heeft tot aanzienlijke toename migranten geleid (ESB, in Dutch)
TV: EenVandaag (Dutch)

Work in Progress: 

High-earning migrants and housing markets (joint with Flavia Paoloni)

Data access funded by "A Sustainable Future" (ASF): Project description 

Gender gap in wage bargaining (joint with Mark van der Meijden, Paul Muller and Massimo Giuliodori)