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Worker–Plant Matching and Ownership Change *
Author(s) -
Balsvik Ragnhild,
Haller Stefanie A.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the scandinavian journal of economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.725
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1467-9442
pISSN - 0347-0520
DOI - 10.1111/sjoe.12376
Subject(s) - unobservable , economic rent , workforce , business , quality (philosophy) , labour economics , matching (statistics) , foreign ownership , economics , foreign direct investment , market economy , economic growth , econometrics , statistics , mathematics , philosophy , epistemology , macroeconomics
Is a change in ownership an opportunity for the new owners to make systematic changes to the workforce of the acquired plant? Using matched employer–employee data, we document changes to the workforce along observable and unobservable dimensions of worker quality around the time of ownership change. We observe above‐average separations of workers around domestic acquisitions. This is associated with a decline in unobserved worker quality in the plant. Foreign acquisitions are not associated with above‐average worker turnover; instead, new foreign owners share rents with the high‐skilled workers who are already in the plant before the acquisition.