Building Bridges and Widening Gaps

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Butikofer, Aline; Loken, Katrine V.; Willen, Alexander
• 署名单位: Norwegian School of Economics (NHH)
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01183
• 发表日期: 2024-05
• 页码: 681-697
• 关键词: gender; infrastructure; INEQUALITY; working; search; cities

摘要

By exploiting the opening of the & Ouml;resund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden, we examine the impact of access to larger labor markets on wages and employment. We show that the bridge generated a substantial increase in the cross-country commuting behavior of Swedes and a 13.5% increase in the average wage of workers in the region. We further show that the wage gains are unevenly distributed: the effect is largest for high-educated men and smallest for low-educated women. Thus, the wage gains come at the cost of increased income inequality and a widening of the gender wage gap, both within and across households.