Cousins from Overseas: The Labour Market Impact of a Major Forced Return Migration Shock

Lara Bohnet, Susana Peralta and João Pereira Dos Santos ()

No 9971, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: We study the labour market impact of a major shock of return migration, following the end of the Portuguese Colonial War in 1974. The retornados influx is unique because of its size (half a million people in a country of nine million), and similarity with the native population (almost 80% of the repatriates were Portuguese-born). Relying on rich census data from 1960 and 1981, with individual information on all repatriates, we document a sizeable 15% decrease for native males, and 62% for native females in dependent employment. Men move to self-employment, while women move to inactivity. The bulk of the effects is driven by Portuguese-born repatriates. We propose novel shift-share IVs, based on the repatriates’ municipality of birth, and the municipal hotel capacity, exploiting a large-scale resettlement program, and discuss possible mechanisms.

Keywords: return migration; labour market; labour supply; entrepreneurship; instrumental variable (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 J20 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Cousins from Overseas: The Labour Market Impact of a Major Forced Return Migration Shock (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9971

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