Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Wealth Heterogeneity and the Income Elasticity of Migration †

Wealth Heterogeneity and the Income Elasticity of Migration † Abstract How do income shocks affect international migration flows from poor countries? Income growth not only increases the opportunity cost of migration but also eases liquidity constraints. I develop a method to separate these countervailing individual effects and identify the overall income elasticity of migration. Using new administrative and census data from Indonesia, I find that positive agricultural income shocks increase labor emigration flows, particularly in villages with relatively more small landholders. However, in the most developed rural areas, persistent income shocks reduce emigration. Overall, the findings highlight the important role of wealth heterogeneity in shaping migration flows as incomes rise. (JEL F22, J43, O13, O15, Q11, Q12, R23 ) http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png American Economic Journal: Applied Economics American Economic Association

Wealth Heterogeneity and the Income Elasticity of Migration †

Download PDF
37 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/american-economic-association/wealth-heterogeneity-and-the-income-elasticity-of-migration-8uYXfsCIyy
Publisher
American Economic Association
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by the American Economic Association
Subject
Articles
ISSN
1945-7790
eISSN
1945-7790
DOI
10.1257/app.20150548
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Abstract How do income shocks affect international migration flows from poor countries? Income growth not only increases the opportunity cost of migration but also eases liquidity constraints. I develop a method to separate these countervailing individual effects and identify the overall income elasticity of migration. Using new administrative and census data from Indonesia, I find that positive agricultural income shocks increase labor emigration flows, particularly in villages with relatively more small landholders. However, in the most developed rural areas, persistent income shocks reduce emigration. Overall, the findings highlight the important role of wealth heterogeneity in shaping migration flows as incomes rise. (JEL F22, J43, O13, O15, Q11, Q12, R23 )

Journal

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics – American Economic Association

Published: Apr 1, 2017

There are no references for this article.