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Did cities increase skills during industrialization? Evidence from rural-urban migration

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The process of industrialization is typically associated with urbanization and a large urban-rural gap in productivity and skills. To what extent were these disparities driven by the direct impact on occupational attainment of living in an urban area or the result of the positive self-selection of migrants moving to cities? In this paper, we leverage exceptional Swedish longitudinal data that allow us to estimate the impact of rural-urban migration on occupational attainment during Sweden’s industrialization from the 1880s to the 1930s using a staggered treatment difference-in-differences estimator. We attribute roughly half of the urban premium to a direct impact of living in an urban area, whereas the other half is driven by self-selection into cities. A third of the direct impact of residing in cities is explained by a static effect, reflecting the urban advantage, while the rest is the result of a dynamic effect as individuals move into higher-skilled occupations over time in urban areas.

Source: Journal of Urban Economics

DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2025.103772

Authors: Jonatan Andersson, Jakob Molinder

Institutions: Uppsala University, Lund University

Language: English

Topic: Historical Economic and Social Studies

Subfield: Economics and Econometrics

Field: Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Decent work and economic growth, Reduced inequalities, Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $5,080