Persecution and Migrant Self-Selection: Evidence from the Collapse of the Communist Bloc / Ran Abramitzky, Travis Baseler, Isabelle Sin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Abramitzky, Ran.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Baseler, Travis.

Sin, Isabelle.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w30204.

NBER working paper series no. w30204

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2022.

Summary:

How does persecution affect who migrates? We analyze migrants' self-selection out of the USSR and its satellite states before and after the collapse of Communism using census microdata from the three largest destination countries: Germany, Israel, and the United States. We find that migrants arriving before and around the time of the collapse (who were more likely to have moved because of persecution) were more educated and had better labor market outcomes in the destination than those arriving later. This change is not fully explained by the removal of emigration restrictions in the Communist Bloc. Instead, we show that this pattern is consistent with more positive self-selection of migrants who are motivated by persecution. When the highly educated disproportionately forgo migrating to enjoy the amenities of their home country, persecution can induce them to leave.

Notes:

Print version record

July 2022.