We analyze short and long‐term effects of worker displacement. Our sample consists of male workers displaced from Norwegian manufacturing plants. We find that displacement increases the probability of leaving the labor force by 31%. The drop‐out rate from the labor force is particularly high in the first years following displacement. The average earnings effects for those who remain in the labor force are moderate, a 3% loss relative to non‐displaced workers after seven years. Splitting displaced workers on within‐ and between‐firm movers, we find that the estimated earnings loss is entirely driven by between‐firm movers who experience a 3.6% loss. Transfers to other plants within multi‐plant firms upon displacement are quite common. Our results support the view that human capital is partly firm specific and partly industry specific. We find no evidence suggesting that human capital is plant specific.

This paper examines the effect of foreign acquisition on wages and employment of different skill groups using panel data on Finnish establishments for [1988][1989][1990][1991][1992][1993][1994][1995][1996][1997][1998][1999][2000][2001]. Exploiting the availability of a rich set of pre-acquisition controls, we use various regression and propensity score matching methods. The results indicate that foreign acquisition has a positive effect on wages. The magnitude of this effect increases with the level of schooling of the workers. The wage increase is not immediate, but happens within 1-3 years from the acquisition. Surprisingly, the results indicate that acquired plants reduce the share of highly educated workers in their employment. JEL Classification: C33, F16, F23, J31

his paper analyzes the effects of job displacement on fertility using Finnish longitudinal register data. We focus on couples where one spouse has lost a job due to a plant closure and follow them for several years before and following the job loss. The results show that female job loss decreases fertility. For every 100 displaced females, there are three fewer children born. Male job loss has no impact on fertility despite resulting in a stronger decrease in family income than female job loss. This indicates that the income effect is not the mechanism through which job displacement influences fertility.

We study the migration behavior of displaced workers and find that job displacement increases regional mobility. We find, however, that non-economic factors such as family ties are very important for the migration decision, and that there is strong heterogeneity in outcomes. We find large income losses for workers who move to regions where they have family or to rural areas, while e.g. rural to urban movers realize a significant long-term increase in earnings. We also find that life events related to fertility, divorce and new relationships correlate with mobility after job loss and may partly explain the large income losses. Acknowledgements:We thank Sandy Black, Paul Oyer, Matti Sarvimäki, Steve Trejo and seminar participants at the

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