Measuring Venezuelan Emigration with Twitter

Ricardo Hausmann, Julian Hinz and Muhammed A. Yildirim
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Muhammed A. Yildirim: Center for International Development at Harvard University

No 113, Growth Lab Working Papers from Harvard's Growth Lab

Abstract: Venezuela has seen an unprecedented exodus of people in recent months. In response to a dramatic economic downturn in which inflation is soaring, oil production tanking, and a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding, many Venezuelans are seeking refuge in neighboring countries. However, the lack of official numbers on emigration from the Venezuelan government, and receiving countries largely refusing to acknowledge a refugee status for affected people, it has been difficult to quantify the magnitude of this crisis. In this note we document how we use data from the social media service Twitter to measure the emigration of people from Venezuela. Using a simple statistical model that allows us to correct for a sampling bias in the data, we estimate that up to 2.9 million Venezuelans have left the country in the past year.

Keywords: migration; social media (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C55 F22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-05
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Working Paper: Measuring Venezuelan Emigration with Twitter (2018)
Working Paper: Measuring Venezuelan emigration with Twitter (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:glh:wpfacu:113

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