Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP6050
Authors: Graziella Bertocchi; Chiara Strozzi
Abstract: We study the determinants of 19th century mass migration with special attention to the role of institutional factors beside standard economic fundamentals. We find that economic forces associated with income and demographic differentials had a major role in the determination of this historical event, but that the quality of institutions also mattered. We evaluate separately the impact of political institutions linked to democracy and suffrage and of those institutions more specifically targeted at attracting migrants, i.e., citizenship acquisition, land distribution, and public education policies. We find that both sets of institutions contributed to this event, even after controlling for their potential endogeneity through a set of instruments exploiting colonial history and the quality of institutions inherited from the past.
Keywords: 19th century; international migration; colonial history; democracy; institutions; migration policy
JEL Codes: F22; F54; K40; N33; O15; P16
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| higher wage gap (J31) | higher migration rates (J61) |
| share of young adults (J13) | higher emigration rates (J11) |
| institutional quality (L15) | higher migration rates (J61) |
| political institutions (D02) | higher migration rates (J61) |
| migration-specific institutions (F22) | higher migration rates (J61) |
| initial institutional values (B15) | political institutions (D02) |
| initial institutional values (B15) | migration-specific institutions (F22) |