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Land Certification and International Migration: Evidence from Mexico

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  • Valsecchi, Michele

    (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University)

Abstract

In this paper we ask whether there is a relationship between property rights and international migration. In order to identify the impact of property rights, we consider a country-wide land certification program, which took place in Mexico throughout the 1990s, and complemented the 1992 Agrarian Law. Our identifica- tion strategy exploits the timing of the program and the heterogeneity in farmers’ eligibility into the program. We find that the change in de facto property rights is associated with a 9-16 percent increase in the likelihood of having a member abroad. The program explains a small but relevant share of the increase in migration to the United States which Mexico experienced throughout the 1990s. In this respect, we add to the current debate on the causes of Mexican migration (Hanson 2006, Hanson and McIntosh 2009, Hanson and McIntosh forthcoming).

Suggested Citation

  • Valsecchi, Michele, 2010. "Land Certification and International Migration: Evidence from Mexico," Working Papers in Economics 440, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0440
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/22255
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    Cited by:

    1. John Giles & Ren Mu, 2018. "Village Political Economy, Land Tenure Insecurity, and the Rural to Urban Migration Decision: Evidence from China," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 100(2), pages 521-544.
    2. Valsecchi, Michele, 2014. "Land property rights and international migration: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 276-290.
    3. Castañeda Dower, Paul & Pfutze, Tobias, 2020. "Land titles and violent conflict in rural Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    4. Alain de Janvry & Kyle Emerick & Marco Gonzalez-Navarro & Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2015. "Delinking Land Rights from Land Use: Certification and Migration in Mexico," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3125-3149, October.
    5. Manuela Angelucci, 2015. "Migration and Financial Constraints: Evidence from Mexico," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(1), pages 224-228, March.
    6. Xianlei Ma & Nico Heerink & Ekko Ierland & Xiaoping Shi, 2016. "Land tenure insecurity and rural-urban migration in rural China," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(2), pages 383-406, June.
    7. de Janvry, Alain & Emerick, Kyle & Gonzalez-Navarro, Marco & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 2012. "Certified to Migrate: Property Rights and Migration in Rural Mexico," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt1jk3m3c1, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    8. Lori M. Hunter & Sheena Murray & Fernando Riosmena, 2013. "Rainfall Patterns and U.S. Migration from Rural Mexico," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 874-909, December.
    9. Ma, Shuang & Mu, Ren, 2020. "Forced off the farm? Farmers’ labor allocation response to land requisition in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    International migration; property rights; land titling; land reform;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment

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