Labor market pooling: evidence from Italian industrial districts

The paper provides an empirical investigation of labor market pooling. The analysis concentrates on Italian industrial districts and shows that there is fragmentary evidence of a widespread wage premium. In particular, there is no evidence of district differentials for the returns to seniority while there is evidence of negative differentials for the returns to education. Moreover, dwelling in a district has no impact on the probability of being selfemployed and only a minor impact on the likelihood of transiting from wage-and-salary to self-employment. Finally, there is no evidence of higher district worker mobility across jobs.