Living with the Neighbors: The Effect of Venezuelan Forced Migration on Wages in Colombia

Leonardo Peñaloza Pacheco
Additional contact information
Leonardo Peñaloza Pacheco: Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Leonardo Peñaloza-Pacheco

CEDLAS, Working Papers from CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to estimate the causal effect of the migration of Venezuelans to Colombia on the Colombian real wage, since 2016. In the second semester of 2016, the borders between Colombia and Venezuela were reopened after a year of being closed due to a political crisis between the two countries; this re-opening is exploited as an identification strategy. Using data from the Unidad Administrativa Especial de Migraci´on Colombia and the Registro Administrativo de Migrantes Venezolanos in Colombia, we estimate that, the migratory flow of Venezuelans to Colombia increased the Economically Active Population of the border areas of La Guajira and Norte de Santander by approximately 10% and 15%, since its reopening. We implement a differences-in-differences methodology and the Synthetic Control Method and find that the increase in labor supply in these regions that resulted from the migratory flow generated a decline in real hourly wages of approximately 6%-9% on average. This decrease in real wages appears to be greater for men as compared to women. There is also evidence of a greater drop in real wages among people with lower levels of qualification and in conditions of informal employment

JEL-codes: F22 J31 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 42 pages
Date: 2019-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.cedlas.econo.unlp.edu.ar/wp/wp-content/uploads/doc_cedlas248.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
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:dls:wpaper:0248

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEDLAS, Working Papers from CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ana Pacheco ().