We are pleased to invite you to the seminar series on “Macroeconomics and Labor Markets“ organized by the Chair of Macroeconomics at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Prof. Merkl, the Chair of Global Governance and International Trade at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Prof. Moser, and the Competence Field Macroeconomics of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB). Researchers of both institutions, as well as national and international guests, present their current work at the intersection of labor- and macroeconomics.
The next seminar will be held on Tuesday, 12 May 2026, from 16:00 to 17:30 (German time).
It will take place via Zoom.
Mathilde Muñoz (University of California, Berkeley)will talk about “Foreign Opportunity and Local Revival: Evidence from the French Rust Belt” (joint work with Antoine Levy).
Abstract:
This paper studies the short- and long-run adjustment of distressed regions to a positive globalization episode: access to an increasingly thriving Luxembourg labor market for residents of the French “Rust Belt”. We document a three-phase expansion of local labor markets, driven by a short-run workplace substitution of incumbent workers towards cross-border commuting, a medium-term rise in labor force participation, and a long-run sustained increase in population via net domestic in-migration. Welfare effects for residents of treated areas are unequal: higher foreign incomes are partly offset by lower domestic employment, rising housing costs and congestion, and reduced fiscal transfers. Improved job opportunities abroad lead to a net decrease in far-right and anti-EU vote shares, muting the rise of populism visible elsewhere in former industrial regions of France. Taken together, our findings suggest that former industrial regions are not inherently rigid, but that their capacity to adjust depends critically on the nature, scale, and spatial incidence of economic shocks.