The Effect of Labor Migration on the Diffusion of Democracy

Barsbai, Toman; Rapoport, Hillel; Steinmayr, Andreas und Trebesch, Christoph (Juli 2017): The Effect of Labor Migration on the Diffusion of Democracy. Evidence from a Former Soviet Republic. In: American Economic Journal-Applied Economics, Bd. 9, Nr. 3: S. 36-69

Abstract

[The paper was awarded the prize for Scientific Excellence from the Research Group on Development Economics of the German Economic Association.]

Migration contributes to the circulation of goods, knowledge, and ideas. Using community and - individual-level data from Moldova, we show that the emigration wave that started in the aftermath of the Russian crisis of 1998 strongly affected electoral outcomes and political preferences in Moldova during the following decade, eventually contributing to the fall of the last Communist government in Europe. Our results are suggestive of information transmission and cultural diffusion channels. Identification relies on the - quasi-experimental context and on the differential effects arising from the fact that emigration was directed both to more democratic Western Europe and to less democratic Russia.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Volkswirtschaft > Lehrstühle > Seminar für empirische Wirtschaftsforschung
• Themengebiete: 300 Sozialwissenschaften > 330 Wirtschaft
• JEL Classification: D72, D83, F22, P23, P26
• ISSN: 1945-7782
• Sprache: Englisch