Immigrant nationality and human capital formation in Brazil

This paper investigates the impact of the mass migration episode of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century (1888–1920) on human capital creation in Brazil. We argue that the presence of immigrants at the turn of the twentieth century has had a positive impact on current measures of human capital and that the effect is heterogeneous. Demand for education depends on an immigrants’ experiences with public education, on their religious background, and on their migration objectives and demographics. The supply of education is contingent on social capital and size of immigrant community. Further, we indicate that this effect persisted over time and remained localized due to high mobility costs and network effects. We find a positive relationship between German, Japanese and Italian presence in 1920 and current human capital, while Portuguese and Spanish presence are not associated with human capital increases.