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Internal migration and the spread of Covid-19

Author

Listed:
  • Michele Valsecchi

    (New Economic School)

  • Ruben Durante

    (Barcelona School of Economics and CEPR)

Abstract

How does internal migration affect the spread of a pandemic? Looking at the case of Italy and using data on the province of origin of migrants located in outbreak areas, we document that provinces more exposed to the virus experience higher mortality in post-outbreak weeks, even when comparing provinces within the same region. We calculate that, had all non-outbreak provinces been as exposed as the one at the lowest decile of the exposure distribution, they would have experienced 60% fewer COVID-19 deaths. Additional evidence from phone records data confirms that the effect is mainly driven by increased mobility from outbreak areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Michele Valsecchi & Ruben Durante, 2020. "Internal migration and the spread of Covid-19," Working Papers w0276, New Economic School (NES).
    • Handle: RePEc:abo:neswpt:w0276
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    File URL: https://www.nes.ru/files/Preprints-resh/WP276.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Durante, Ruben & Guiso, Luigi & Gulino, Giorgio, 2021. "Asocial capital: Civic culture and social distancing during COVID-19," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    2. Abel Brodeur & David Gray & Anik Islam & Suraiya Bhuiyan, 2021. "A literature review of the economics of COVID‐19," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 1007-1044, September.
    3. Egorov, Georgy & Enikolopov, Ruben & Makarin, Alexey & Petrova, Maria, 2021. "Divided we stay home: Social distancing and ethnic diversity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    4. Barker, Nathan & Davis, C. Austin & López-Peña, Paula & Mitchell, Harrison & Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq & Naguib, Karim & Reimão, Maira Emy & Shenoy, Ashish & Vernot, Corey, 2023. "Migration and resilience during a global crisis," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    5. Sam Jones & Ivan Manhique, 2021. "Informal freelancers in the time of COVID-19: Insights from a digital matching platform in Mozambique," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-95, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Valsecchi, Michele & Durante, Ruben, 2021. "Internal migration networks and mortality in home communities: Evidence from Italy during the Covid-19 pandemic," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    7. Nathan Barker & Austin Davis & Paula López-Peña & Harrison Mitchell & Mushfiq Mobarak & Karim Naguib & Maira Emy Reimão & Ashish Shenoy & Corey Vernot, 2020. "Migration and the labour market impacts of COVID-19," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2020-139, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    internal migration; mobility; health; epidemic; Covid-19;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • H12 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Crisis Management
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General

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