Working Paper: NBER ID: w22049
Authors: Taryn Dinkelman; Martine Mariotti
Abstract: We provide new evidence of one channel through which circular labor migration has long run effects on origin communities: by raising completed human capital of the next generation. We estimate the net effects of migration from Malawi to South African mines using newly digitized Census and administrative data on access to mine jobs, a difference-in-differences strategy and two opposite-signed and plausibly exogenous shocks to the option to migrate. Twenty years after these shocks, human capital is 4.8-6.9% higher among cohorts who were eligible for schooling in communities with the easiest access to migrant jobs.
Keywords: labor migration; human capital; Malawi; South Africa; education
JEL Codes: F22; F24; N37; O12; O15; O55
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Labor Migration (J61) | Human Capital Formation (J24) |
| Labor Migration Shocks (J61) | Educational Attainment (I21) |
| Recruiting Stations (J45) | Lower Migration Costs (F16) |
| Labor Migration Shocks (J61) | Differential Childhood Exposure (J79) |
| Labor Migration Shocks (J61) | Migrant Income (F24) |
| Easier Access to Migrant Jobs (J68) | Human Capital Formation (J24) |
| Labor Migration (J61) | Educational Investments (I26) |