IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jpamgt/v44y2025i2p428-455.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of mass migration on disease transmission: Evidence from the Venezuelan refugee crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Alicia Barriga
  • Richard A. Dunn

Abstract

Since 2014, millions of Venezuelans have fled to neighboring countries. There is only one accessible land crossing along the Brazil–Venezuela border (Pacaraima) and the Brazilian highway system limits migrants to one route through the Amazon for almost 1000 km. Using this event as a quasi‐random treatment, we find that refugee migration increased malaria incidence in Pacaraima, but this was limited to individuals of Venezuelan nationality. We find no effect on Brazilians in Pacaraima or in other municipalities along the main refugee migration route. We therefore reject the hypothesis that Venezuelan refugees increased the risk of malaria among native residents.

Suggested Citation

  • Alicia Barriga & Richard A. Dunn, 2025. "The effect of mass migration on disease transmission: Evidence from the Venezuelan refugee crisis," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(2), pages 428-455, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:44:y:2025:i:2:p:428-455
    DOI: 10.1002/pam.22641
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22641
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/pam.22641?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rachel M. Friedberg, 2001. "The Impact of Mass Migration on the Israeli Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(4), pages 1373-1408.
    2. David Card, 1990. "The Impact of the Mariel Boatlift on the Miami Labor Market," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 43(2), pages 245-257, January.
    3. Jérôme Adda, 2016. "Economic Activity and the Spread of Viral Diseases: Evidence from High Frequency Data," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(2), pages 891-941.
    4. Garg, Teevrat, 2019. "Ecosystems and human health: The local benefits of forest cover in Indonesia," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    5. Semih Tumen, 2016. "The Economic Impact of Syrian Refugees on Host Countries: Quasi-experimental Evidence from Turkey," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 456-460, May.
    6. George J. Borjas & Bernt Bratsberg, 2021. "Who Leaves? The Outmigration Of The Foreign-Born," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foundational Essays in Immigration Economics, chapter 5, pages 93-104, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Emily Oster, 2012. "Routes Of Infection: Exports And Hiv Incidence In Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(5), pages 1025-1058, October.
    8. Daniel Chiquiar & Gordon H. Hanson, 2005. "International Migration, Self-Selection, and the Distribution of Wages: Evidence from Mexico and the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(2), pages 239-281, April.
    9. Barry R. Chiswick & Yew Liang Lee & Paul W. Miller, 2008. "Immigrant Selection Systems And Immigrant Health," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 26(4), pages 555-578, October.
    10. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    11. Minoiu, Camelia & Shemyakina, Olga N., 2014. "Armed conflict, household victimization, and child health in Côte d'Ivoire," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 237-255.
    12. Ming Liu & Yihong Xiao, 2013. "Modeling and Analysis of Epidemic Diffusion with Population Migration," Journal of Applied Mathematics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 2013(1).
    13. Mette Foged & Giovanni Peri, 2016. "Immigrants' Effect on Native Workers: New Analysis on Longitudinal Data," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 1-34, April.
    14. Baez, Javier E., 2011. "Civil wars beyond their borders: The human capital and health consequences of hosting refugees," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 391-408, November.
    15. Tom Bundervoet & Philip Verwimp & Richard Akresh, 2009. "Health and Civil War in Rural Burundi," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(2).
    16. Caroline Lynch & Cally Roper, 2011. "The Transit Phase of Migration: Circulation of Malaria and Its Multidrug-Resistant Forms in Africa," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(5), pages 1-6, May.
    17. Mansour, Hani & Rees, Daniel I., 2012. "Armed conflict and birth weight: Evidence from the al-Aqsa Intifada," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 190-199.
    18. Madhav Regmi & Krishna P. Paudel & Keshav Bhattarai, 2020. "Migration decisions and destination choices," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(2), pages 197-226, April.
    19. Ibáñez, Ana María & Rozo, Sandra V. & Urbina, María J., 2021. "Forced Migration and the Spread of Infectious Diseases," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    20. Garg, Teevrat, 2019. "Ecosystems and Human Health: The Local Benefits of Forest Cover in Indonesia," IZA Discussion Papers 12683, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Jose G. Montalvo & Marta Reynal-Querol, 2007. "Fighting against Malaria: Prevent Wars while Waiting for the "Miraculous" Vaccine," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(1), pages 165-177, February.
    22. Ming Liu & Yihong Xiao, 2013. "Modeling and Analysis of Epidemic Diffusion with Population Migration," Journal of Applied Mathematics, Hindawi, vol. 2013, pages 1-8, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Laura Muñoz-Blanco & Federico Fabio Frattini, 2024. "Vaccines on the Move and the War on Polio," Working Papers 2024.30, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    2. Laura Muñoz-Blanco & Federico Fabio Frattini, 2024. "Vaccines on the Move and the War on Polio," Discussion Papers 2403, University of Exeter, Department of Economics.
    3. Verme, Paolo & Schuettler, Kirsten, 2021. "The impact of forced displacement on host communities: A review of the empirical literature in economics," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    4. Joan Monras, 2020. "Immigration and Wage Dynamics: Evidence from the Mexican Peso Crisis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(8), pages 3017-3089.
    5. Campo, Francesco & Giunti, Sara & Mendola, Mariapia, 2024. "Refugee crisis and right-wing populism: Evidence from the Italian Dispersal Policy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    6. Baez, Javier E., 2011. "Civil wars beyond their borders: The human capital and health consequences of hosting refugees," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 391-408, November.
    7. Rozo, Sandra V., 2020. "Unintended effects of illegal economic activities: Illegal gold mining and malaria," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    8. Sergei Guriev & Biagio Speciale & Michele Tuccio, 2019. "How do Regulated and Unregulated Labor Markets Respond to Shocks? Evidence from Immigrants During the Great Recession," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 35(1), pages 37-76.
    9. Bohnet, Lara & Peralta, Susana & Pereira dos Santos, João, 2022. "Cousins from Overseas: The Labour Market Impact of a Major Forced Return Migration Shock," IZA Discussion Papers 15595, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Dustmann, Christian & Glitz, Albrecht, 2011. "Migration and Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 327-439, Elsevier.
    11. Cansu OYMAK & Jean-François MAYSTADT, 2024. "Can refugees improve native children's health?: evidence from Turkey," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 90(3), pages 521-551, September.
    12. Nelly Elmallakh & Jackline Wahba, 2023. "Syrian Refugees and the Migration Dynamics of Jordanians: Moving In or Moving Out?," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 71(4), pages 1283-1330.
    13. Minoiu, Camelia & Shemyakina, Olga N., 2014. "Armed conflict, household victimization, and child health in Côte d'Ivoire," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 237-255.
    14. Parisa Ghasemi & Paulino Teixeira & Carlos Carreira, 2024. "Immigrants and the Portuguese labor market: Threat or Advantage?," CeBER Working Papers 2024-02, Centre for Business and Economics Research (CeBER), University of Coimbra.
    15. Tsuda, Shunsuke, 2022. "Refugee inflows, surplus farm labor, and crop marketization in rural Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    16. Binnur Balkan & Semih Tumen, 2016. "Immigration and prices: quasi-experimental evidence from Syrian refugees in Turkey," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(3), pages 657-686, July.
    17. Mustafa Özer & Jan Fidrmuc, 2024. "Does Immigration Affect the Natives’ Mental Health? Causal Evidence from Forced Syrian Migration to Turkey," CESifo Working Paper Series 11399, CESifo.
    18. Silliman, Mikko & Willén, Alexander, 2024. "Worker Power, Immigrant Sorting, and Firm Dynamics," IZA Discussion Papers 17208, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Anthony Edo, 2017. "The Impact of Immigration on Wage Dynamics: Evidence from the Algerian Independence War," CESifo Working Paper Series 6595, CESifo.
    20. Lara Bohnet & Susana Peralta & Joao Pereira dos Santos, 2021. "Cousins from overseas: the labour market impact of half a million Portuguese repatriates," NOVAFRICA Working Paper Series wp2114, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics, NOVAFRICA.

    More about this item

    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:wly:jpamgt:v:44:y:2025:i:2:p:428-455. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/34787/home .

    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.