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PublicationArticle (with peer review)

International trade and labour market integration of immigrants

Abstract

Abstract

We examine whether international trade improves labour market integration of immigrants in Sweden. Immigrants participate substantially less than natives in the labour market. However, trading with a foreign country is expected to increase the demand for immigrants from that country. By hiring immigrants, a firm may access foreign knowledge and networks needed to overcome information frictions in trade. Using granular longitudinal matched employer–employee data and an instrumental variable approach, we estimate the causal effects of a firm’s bilateral trade on employment and wages of immigrants from that country. We find a positive, yet heterogeneous, effect of trade on immigrant employment but no effect on immigrant wages.

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Lodefalk, M., Sjöholm, F., & Tang, A. (2022). International trade and labour market integration of immigrants. The World Economy, 45, 1650– 1689.

Details

Author
Lodefalk, M., Sjöholm, F., & Tang, A.
Publication year
2022
Published in

The World Economy, 45, 1650– 1689.

Related

  • Associate Professor

    Magnus Lodefalk

    magnus.lodefalk@oru.se

Similar content

Working paper

Working Paper No. 380. Artificial Intelligence, hiring and employment: Job postings evidence from Sweden.

Engberg, E., Hellsten, M., Javed, F., Lodefalk, M., Sabolová, R., Schroeder, S.
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Publication year

2024

Published in

Ratio Working Paper Series.

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on hiring and employment, using the universe of job postings published by the Swedish Public Employment Service from 2014-2022 and universal register data for Sweden. We construct a detailed measure of AI exposure according to occupational content and find that establishments exposed to AI are more likely to hire AI workers. Survey data further indicate that AI exposure aligns with greater use of AI services. Importantly, rather than displacing non-AI workers, AI exposure is positively associated with increased hiring for both AI and non-AI roles. In the absence of substantial productivity gains that might account for this increase, we interpret the positive link between AI exposure and non-AI hiring as evidence that establishments are using AI to augment existing roles and expand task capabilities, rather than to replace non-AI workers.

Article (with peer review)

Stayin’ alive: Export credit guarantees and export survival

Lodefalk, M., Tang, A., & Yu, M.
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Publication year

2025

Published in

Applied Economics Letters

Abstract

We use survival analysis to analyse the impact of export credit guarantees on firms’ export duration using granular Swedish panel data at the firm-country and firm-country-product levels. The estimation results show that firms’ export survival substantially increases with guarantees, at both levels. The associations are particularly strong for smaller firms and contracts as well as in trade with riskier markets. The findings have implications for policies to promote long-run export growth.

Article (with peer review)

Artificial intelligence, tasks, skills and wages: Worker-level evidence from Germany

Engberg, E., Koch, M., Lodefalk, M., & Schroeder, S.
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Publication year

2025

Published in

Research Policy

Abstract

As a first step, the study documents novel evidence on changes in tasks and skills within occupations in Germany over the past two decades. It further identifies a distinct relationship between ex ante occupational work content and ex post exposure to artificial intelligence (AI) and automation through robots. Workers in occupations with high AI exposure perform different activities and face different skill requirements than workers in occupations primarily exposed to robots, suggesting that AI and robots substitute for different types of tasks and skills. The study also shows that changes in the task and skill content of occupations are related to their initial exposure to these technologies. Finally, using individual labour market biographies, the analysis investigates the relationship between AI exposure and wages. By examining the dynamic effects of AI exposure over time, the study finds positive associations with wages, with nuanced differences across occupational groups, thereby providing further insight into the substitutability and augmentability of AI.

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