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The Effect of Internal Migration on Local Labor Markets:American Cities during the Great Depression

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Author Info

  • Leah Platt Boustan
  • Price V. Fishback
  • Shawn Kantor

Abstract

The Great Depression offers a unique laboratory to investigate the causal impact of migration on local labor markets. We use variation in the generosity of New Deal programs and extreme weather events to instrument for migrant flows to and from U.S. cities. In-migration had little effect on the hourly earnings of existing residents. Instead,in-migration prompted some residents to move away and others to lose weeks of work or access to relief jobs. For every 10 arrivals, we estimate that 1.9 residents moved out, 2.1 were prevented from finding a relief job, and 1.9 shifted from full-time to part-time work. (c) 2010 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved..

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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by University of Chicago Press in its journal Journal of Labor Economics.

Volume (Year): 28 (2010)
Issue (Month): 4 (October)
Pages: 719-746

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Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlabec:v:28:y:2010:i:4:p:719-746

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Web page: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JOLE/

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  1. David Card, 1996. "Immigrant Inflows, Native Outflows, and the Local Labor Market Impacts of Higher Immigration," Working Papers 747, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
  2. David Strömberg, 2004. "Radio's Impact on Public Spending," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 119(1), pages 189-221, February.
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  4. Peri, Giovanni & Ottaviano, Gianmarco L. P., 2006. "Rethinking the Effects of Immigration on Wages," Working Papers 06-34, University of California at Davis, Department of Economics.
  5. Mary Kritz & Douglas Gurak, 2001. "The impact of immigration on the internal migration of natives and immigrants," Demography, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 133-145, February.
  6. Fishback, Price V. & Horrace, William C. & Kantor, Shawn, 2006. "The impact of New Deal expenditures on mobility during the Great Depression," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 179-222, April.
  7. George J. Borjas, 2001. "Does Immigration Grease the Wheels of the Labor Market?," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 32(1), pages 69-134.
  8. Olivier Jean Blanchard & Lawrence F. Katz, 1992. "Regional Evolutions," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 23(1), pages 1-76.
  9. Rachel M. Friedberg & J. Hunt, 1995. "The Impact of Immigrants on Host Country Wages, Employment and Growth," Working Papers 95-5, Brown University, Department of Economics.
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  11. Leah Platt Boustan, 2007. "Was Postwar Suburbanization "White Flight"? Evidence from the Black Migration," NBER Working Papers 13543, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  12. Schwartz, Aba, 1973. "Interpreting the Effect of Distance on Migration," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(5), pages 1153-69, Sept.-Oct.
  13. Ethan Lewis, 2004. "How did the Miami labor market absorb the Mariel immigrants?," Working Papers 04-3, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
  14. Price V. Fishback & Michael R. Haines & Shawn Kantor, 2005. "Births, Deaths, and New Deal Relief during the Great Depression," NBER Working Papers 11246, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  15. George J. Borjas, 2005. "Native Internal Migration and the Labor Market Impact of Immigration," NBER Working Papers 11610, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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  17. George J. Borjas & Richard B. Friedman & Lawrence F. Katz, 1997. "How Much Do Immigration and Trade Affect Labor Market Outcomes?," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 28(1), pages 1-90.
  18. George J. Borjas & Richard B. Freeman, 1992. "Immigration and the Workforce: Economic Consequences for the United States and Source Areas," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number borj92-1, August.
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  20. Fishback, Price V. & Haines, Michael R. & Kantor, Shawn, 2001. "The Impact of the New Deal on Black and White Infant Mortality in the South," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 93-122, January.
  21. John M. Abowd & Richard B. Freeman, 1991. "Immigration, Trade and the Labor Market," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number abow91-1, August.
  22. Horrace, William C. & Oaxaca, Ronald L., 2006. "Results on the bias and inconsistency of ordinary least squares for the linear probability model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 90(3), pages 321-327, March.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Aydemir, Abdurrahman & Kirdar, Murat G., 2013. "Quasi-Experimental Impact Estimates of Immigrant Labor Supply Shocks: The Role of Treatment and Comparison Group Matching and Relative Skill Composition," IZA Discussion Papers 7161, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  2. Sebastian Braun & Toman Omar Mahmoud, 2011. "The Employment Effects of Immigration: Evidence from the Mass Arrival of German Expellees in Post-war Germany," Kiel Working Papers 1725, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
  3. Benedikt Heid & Mario Larch, 2011. "Migration, Trade and Unemployment," Ifo Working Paper Series Ifo Working Paper No. 115, Ifo Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
  4. Jan Schnellenbach, 2007. "Rational ignorance is not bliss: When do lazy voters learn from decentralised policy experiments?," Working Papers 0441, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics, revised May 2007.
  5. Ganong, Peter & Shoag, Daniel, 2012. "Why Has Regional Convergence in the U.S. Stopped?," Working Paper Series rwp12-028, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
  6. repec:aia:ginidp:dp26 is not listed on IDEAS
  7. Biavaschi, Costanza, 2012. "The Labor Demand Was Downward Sloping: Disentangling Migrants' Inflows and Outflows, 1929-1957," IZA Discussion Papers 7049, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  8. Francesco Bogliacino & Lucchese, M., 2011. "GINI DP 26: Endogenous Skill Biased Technical Change: Testing for Demand Pull Effect," GINI Discussion Papers 26, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
  9. Meng, Xin & Zhang, Dandan, 2010. "Labour Market Impact of Large Scale Internal Migration on Chinese Urban 'Native' Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 5288, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).

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