Massimiliano Bratti (University of Milan)
Enrico Lippo and Filippo Passerini
We exploit a quasi-experiment induced by the opening of a new high-speed railways station in Northern Italy (the so-called Mediopadana in Reggio Emilia) to examine how enhanced accessibility to and from a peripheral city affects student mobility, particularly college enrollment choices. Using a gravity model and a triple-difference strategy, we document that the new station significantly increased student mobility from origin municipalities to higher education destinations affected by the newly connected routes, primarily boosting inward mobility and fostering a brain gain effect. The impact was stronger for low-SES students, those who attended vocational secondary school tracks. Additionally, most of the increased attractiveness of the universities close to Mediopadana (the Universities of Modena-Reggio Emilia and the University of Parma) is accounted for by flows at commuting distance, i.e., originating from municipalities near Milan or Bologna or from the two cities.