A major international transmission channel of productivity increases is trade in intermediate products and services. This paper analyses international rent spillovers at the industry level and for the first time investigates effects from the service sector in this international framework. The World Input-Output Database (WIOD) allows us to improve over the traditional approach of using trade in intermediates in the estimation of international spillovers by making use of input-output linkages between industries in different countries. Our results using this novel approach confirm the productivi...more

This paper addresses the link between productivity and labour mobility. The hypothesis tested in the paper is that technology is transmitted across industries through the movement of skilled workers embodying human capital. The embodied knowledge is then diffused within the new environment creating spillovers and leading to productivity improvements. A theoretical framework is presented wherein productivity growth is modelled through knowledge acquisition with respect to labour mobility. The empirical estimates confirm the existence of positive cross-sectoral knowledge spillovers and indicate ...more

This study analyses the implications for the Italian labour market of the recent dramatic upsurge in immigration from the New Member States and the Candidate Countries after the 2004 and 2007 enlargement within the context of the current Italian immigration policy. The study documents the most salient features of the immigrant population before and after the enlargement with respect to demographic characteristics, skill structure, labour market participation, occupational sector, underscoring the main differences and similarities within immigrants subgroups (New Member States vs. Candidate Cou...more