Migration Costs and Observational Returns to Migration in the Developing World

David Lagakos, Samuel Marshall, Ahmed Mobarak, Corey Vernot and Michael Waugh

No 26868, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Recent studies find that observational returns to rural-urban migration are near zero in three developing countries. We revisit this result using panel tracking surveys from six countries, finding higher returns on average. We then interpret these returns in a multi-region Roy model with heterogeneity in migration costs. In the model, the observational return to migration confounds the urban premium and the individual benefits of migrants, and is not directly informative about the welfare gain from lowering migration costs. Patterns of regional heterogeneity in returns, and a comparison of experimental to observational returns, are consistent with the model’s predictions.

JEL-codes: O11 O18 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-int, nep-mig and nep-ure
Note: DEV EFG LS
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (27)

Published as David Lagakos & Samuel Marshall & Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak & Corey Vernot & Michael E. Waugh, 2020. "Migration Costs and Observational Returns to Migration in the Developing World," Journal of Monetary Economics, .

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Journal Article: Migration costs and observational returns to migration in the developing world (2020)
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