Does Access to Foreign Markets shape Internal Migration? Evidence from Brazil

Laura Hering and Rodrigo Paillacar

No 14-084/VI, Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers from Tinbergen Institute

Abstract: This paper investigates how internal migration is a affected by Brazil's increased integration into the world economy. We analyze the impact of regional differences in access to foreign demand on sector-specific bilateral migration rates between the Brazilian states for the years 1995 to 2003. Using international trade data, we compute a foreign market access indicator at the sectoral level, which is exogenous to domestic migration. A higher foreign market access is associated with a higher local labor demand and attracts workers via two potential channels: higher wages and new job opportunities. Our results show that both channels play a significant role in internal migration. Further, we find a heterogeneous impact across industries according to their comparative advantage on the world market. However, the impact of market access is robust only for low-educated wor kers. This finding is consistent with the fact that Brazil is exporting mainly goods that are intensive in unskilled labor.

Keywords: Regional migration; international trade; market access; Brazil (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F16 F66 R12 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-07-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int, nep-lam and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Journal Article: Does Access to Foreign Markets Shape Internal Migration? Evidence from Brazil (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tin:wpaper:20140084

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