Integration, Mobility, and Human Capital Formation

Abstract

In this note, we show that labour market integration can be a double-edged sword. In the presence of local human capital externalities, integration and the ensuing agglomeration of skilled labour can cause a decline in human capital and the total wage sum (net of education costs). In particular, integration depresses the incentives for some talented but immobile individuals to become skilled.human capital, migration, labour market integration, agglomeration