Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP17668
Authors: Olof Ejermo; Kerstin Enflo; Björn Eriksson; Erik Prawitz
Abstract: Studying migrants from Sweden to the United States, we provide new evidence on return migration during the Age of Mass Migration. Focusing on a sample of migrants and stayers observed in childhood, we document limited effects on income and occupational upgrading, but large effects on wealth. Male returnees held about twice as much wealth as stayers and about 40 percent more than staying brothers. These effects were likely driven by accumulated savings overseas, rather than inheritance or an income premium back home. For female returnees, wealth effects are of similarmagnitude, but appear to be realized primarily through marriage.
Keywords: emigration; returnees; selection; return location; occupational and social upgrading; income; wealth
JEL Codes: N13; F22; O15; J24; J62
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| return migration (F22) | wealth accumulation (E21) |
| return migration (male returnees) (F22) | wealth accumulation (male returnees) (E25) |
| return migration (female returnees) (F22) | wealth accumulation (female returnees) (I26) |
| return migration (male returnees) (F22) | occupational income (male returnees) (J31) |
| return migration (female returnees) (F22) | upward mobility (female returnees) (J62) |
| longer stays abroad (F22) | wealth accumulation (E21) |