IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/jecgeo/v25y2025i6p809-830..html

From displacement to integration: mitigating the distributional effect of immigration through an amnesty program

Author

Listed:
  • Carlo Lombardo
  • Julian Martinez-Correa
  • Leonardo Peñaloza-Pacheco
  • Leonardo Gasparini

Abstract

We examine how the massive exodus of Venezuelans and an amnesty program aimed at their integration affected income distribution in Colombia. Using RIF regressions in an instrumental variables approach, we find that the exodus had a negative effect on the lower tail of native Colombians’ income distribution, while the amnesty program partially mitigated this impact. Our findings posit downgrading as the driving mechanism. Employment restrictions forced Venezuelan migrants into lower-paying, more routinized jobs despite their qualifications, exacerbating pressures on the low-skilled labor segment in Colombia. The regularization program mitigated the extent of downgrading, thereby alleviating the unequalizing impact of migration.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlo Lombardo & Julian Martinez-Correa & Leonardo Peñaloza-Pacheco & Leonardo Gasparini, 2025. "From displacement to integration: mitigating the distributional effect of immigration through an amnesty program," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 25(6), pages 809-830.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jecgeo:v:25:y:2025:i:6:p:809-830.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeg/lbaf014
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D30 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - General
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:jecgeo:v:25:y:2025:i:6:p:809-830.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/joeg .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.