Nation-building and mass migration: Evidence from Mandatory Palestine

Laura Panza and Yanos Zylberberg

Bristol Economics Discussion Papers from School of Economics, University of Bristol, UK

Abstract: This paper examines the grassroots of nation-building in times of mass migration. We study the emergence of cohesive communities and societal leadership within the scattered, diverse Jewish settlements of Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and 1947. Our empirical strategy relies on a new “frontier expansion†algorithm to predict the dynamics of Jewish settlement creation, which we combine with migrant characteristics in a shift-share design to isolate exogenous variation in the local composition of settlers across locations. We find that: (i) leaders who played a crucial role in shaping the early state of Israel emerged from diverse communities; (ii) these communities were more cohesive and maintained better relationships with Arab neighbors; and (iii) these effects are predominantly observed in kibbutzim, i.e., integrated settlements with communal lifestyle. Further evidence suggests that these diverse, tight-knit communities were facing and addressing nation-building challenges at a local level, e.g., setting up institutions to foster a shared identity.

Date: 2025-04-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ara, nep-his, nep-inv, nep-mig and nep-ure
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Working Paper: Nation-building and mass migration: Evidence from Mandatory Palestine (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bri:uobdis:25/796

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