Does Access to Foreign Markets Shape Internal Migration? : Evidence from Brazil
This paper investigates how internal migration is affected by Brazil’s increased integration into the world economy. It analyzes the impact of regional differences in access to foreign demand on sector-specific bilateral migration rates between the...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2015
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/05/24472611/access-foreign-markets-shape-internal-migration-evidence-brazil http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21996 |
| Summary: | This paper investigates how internal
migration is affected by Brazil’s increased integration into
the world economy. It analyzes the impact of regional
differences in access to foreign demand on sector-specific
bilateral migration rates between the Brazilian states for
the years 1995 to 2003. Using international trade data, a
foreign market access measure is computed at the sectoral
level, which is exogenous to domestic migration. A higher
foreign market access is associated with a higher local
labor demand and attracts workers via two potential
channels: higher wages and new job opportunities. Results
show that both channels play a significant role in internal
migration. Further, we find a heterogeneous impact across
industries, according to their comparative advantage on the
world market. However, the observed impact is driven by the
strong reaction of low-educated workers to changes in market
access. This finding is consistent with the fact that Brazil
is exporting mainly goods that are intensive in unskilled labor. |
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