From Conflict to Compromise: Experimental Evidence on Occupational Downgrading in Migration from Myanmar

Yashodhan Ghorpade and Muhammad Saad Imtiaz

No 427, HiCN Working Papers from Households in Conflict Network

Abstract: We examine the relationship between violent conflict and the willingness of potential migrants to accept lower skilled work (occupational downgrading). We develop a theoretical model of migration decisions, which we test using an innovative survey module administered to highskilled youth in Myanmar. Consistent with the predictions of the model, we show that insecurity induced by conflict reduces the additional wage premium that individuals would typically demand for taking on lower-skilled work, indicating greater amenability to occupational downgrading. These effects are particularly pronounced for disadvantaged groups, such as women, ethnic minorities, and those with weaker labor market networks or English language skills. The results are driven by respondents from areas under territorial contestation, and those interviewed after the sudden activation of a conscription law during the survey. This further confirms how security considerations may override the preference for skill-appropriate job matching, suggesting that conflict may worsen labor market outcomes and reduce potential gains from migration, especially for disadvantaged groups.

Keywords: compensating differentials; conflict; migration; myanmar; occupational downgrading (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J61 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://hicn.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/HiCN-WP-427.pdf Full PDF document (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: From Conflict to Compromise: Experimental Evidence on Occupational Downgrading in Migration from Myanmar (2025)
Working Paper: From Conflict to Compromise: Experimental Evidence on Occupational Downgrading in Migration from Myanmar (2025)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hic:wpaper:427

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in HiCN Working Papers from Households in Conflict Network
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tilman Brück () and () and () and ().