Internal migration and wages of Italian university graduates*

In this paper, we estimate wage gains due to geographic mobility of Italian university graduates three years after graduation. By means of a matching procedure we quantify wage premia associated with the choice of studying far from home, moving after graduation and moving back home after graduation. We find evidence of large heterogeneity in the returns to different migration patterns. The results show large gains for those who move after graduation and smaller gains for those who migrate to study. Conversely, those who choose to go back home after having studied in regions different from that of origin suffer small losses. Our findings are robust to a finer definition of mobility and to the subsample of individuals originating from the South.