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The labor market impact of mobility restrictions : evidence from the West Bank
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The labor market impact of mobility restrictions : evidence from the West Bank

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  • Cali, Massimiliano
  • Miaari, Sami H.

Abstract

Using data on Israeli closures inside the West Bank, this paper provides new evidence on the labor market effects of conflict-induced restrictions to mobility. To identify the effects, the analysis exploits the fact that the placement of physical barriers by Israel was exogenous to local labor market conditions and uses a measure of conflict intensity to control for the likely spurious correlation between local unrest, labor market conditions, and the placement of barriers. The study finds that these barriers to mobility have a significant negative effect on employment, wages, and days worked per month. The barriers had a positive impact on the number of hours per working day. These effects are driven mainly by checkpoints while other barriers, such as roadblocks and earth mounds, have a much more limited impact. Only a tiny portion of the effects is due to direct restrictions on workers'mobility, suggesting that these restrictions affect the labor market mainly by depressing firms'production and labor demand. Despite being an underestimation of the actual effects, the overall costs of the barriers on the West Bank labor market are substantial: in 2007, for example, these costs amounted to 6 percent of gross domestic product. Most of these costs are due to lower wages, thus suggesting that the labor market has adjusted to the restrictions more through prices than quantities.

Suggested Citation

  • Cali, Massimiliano & Miaari, Sami H., 2013. "The labor market impact of mobility restrictions : evidence from the West Bank," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6457, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6457
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    Cited by:

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    2. Hendrik Jürges & Luca Stella & Sameh Hallaq & Alexandra Schwarz, 2022. "Cohort at risk: long-term consequences of conflict for child school achievement," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(1), pages 1-43, January.
    3. Di Maio, Michele & Nisticò, Roberto, 2019. "The effect of parental job loss on child school dropout: Evidence from the Occupied Palestinian Territories," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    4. Hala Aburas & Isam Shahrour, 2021. "Impact of the Mobility Restrictions in the Palestinian Territory on the Population and the Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Belal Fallah, 2017. "The Economic Response of Rural Areas to Local Supply Shock: Evidence From Palestine," Working Papers 1108, Economic Research Forum, revised 06 2017.
    6. Francesco Amodio & Michele Di Maio, "undated". "Making Do with What You Have: Conflict, Firm Performance and Input Misallocation in Palestine," Development Working Papers 379, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    7. Bilal Nabeel Falah & Marcelo Bérgolo & Arwa Abu Hashhash & Mohammad Hattawy & Iman Saadeh, 2019. "The Effect of Labor-Demand Shocks on Women’s Participation in the Labor Force: Evidence from Palestine," Working Papers PMMA 2019-08, PEP-PMMA.
    8. Di Maio, Michele & Leone Sciabolazza, Valerio, 2023. "Conflict exposure and labour market outcomes: Evidence from longitudinal data for the Gaza Strip," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    9. Fallah, Belal, 2021. "The effect of the public sector on private jobs: Evidence from the West Bank," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 45(2).
    10. Aziz Atamanov & Nethra Palaniswamy, 2019. "Poverty Map of the Palestinian Territories," World Bank Publications - Reports 33374, The World Bank Group.
    11. Jürges Hendrik & Westermaier Franz G., 2020. "Conflict Intensity and Birth Outcomes – Evidence from the West Bank," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 20(2), pages 1-8, April.
    12. Adnan, Wifag, 2015. "Who gets to cross the border? The impact of mobility restrictions on labor flows in the West Bank," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 86-99.
    13. Saad, Ayhab F. & Fallah, Belal, 2020. "How educational choices respond to large labor market shocks: Evidence from a natural experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    14. Sameh Hallaq, 2019. "Wage Differential between Palestinian Non-refugees and Palestinian Refugees in the West Bank and Gaza," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_941, Levy Economics Institute.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor Markets; Labor Policies; Transport Economics Policy&Planning; Markets and Market Access; Banks&Banking Reform;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J40 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - General
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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