 |
I leverage on a matched employer-employee database drawn by INPS archive representative of the universe of Italian private sector workers to investigate how labor market concentration affects wages and employment. I compute concentration measures relying on new hires finding that LM's aren't on average concentrated, despite showing relevant heterogeneity. I then investigate the relationship between concentration and wages and employment finding negative correlations. I then develop an IV strategy based on M&A's to explore whether mergers increase concentration at a market-level and to find a reliable source of variation to identify their effect. First stage estimates indicate that only mergers raise significantly concentration, while other events don't. Estimated elasticities with different IV's range between -0.09 and -0.14 p.p for wages and between -0.68 and -0.77 p.p for hires.
- Poster
