Spatial wage differentials, geographic frictions and the organization of labor within firms

Abstract

This paper studies the spatial organization of firms, both theoretically and empirically. Two new facts in Danish register data motivate the analysis: (i) firms have become increasingly spatially fragmented, and (ii) headquarters (HQ) establishments have become more manager-intensive. We develop and estimate a structural model in which firms allocate labor across establishments and produce non-rival, manager-intensive HQ services. Identification relies on exogenous variation in labor supply induced by commuting-augmented immigration shocks. We estimate elasticities of substitution across establishments of −9.8 for workers and −1.1 for managers, consistent with firms reallocating general labor more easily than managerial inputs. Our decomposition shows that rising managerial wages at HQs – interacted with firm-level scale effects – explain about half of the observed increase in HQ managerial intensity, highlighting the importance of intangible internal inputs in shaping firm spatial structure.