The Effect of Labor Migration on the Diffusion of Democracy: Evidence from a Former Soviet Republic

Toman Barsbai, Hillel Rapoport, Andreas Steinmayr and Christoph Trebesch

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2017, vol. 9, issue 3, 36-69

Abstract: Migration contributes to the circulation of goods, knowledge, and ideas. Using community and individual-level data from Moldova, we show that the emigration wave that started in the aftermath of the Russian crisis of 1998 strongly affected electoral outcomes and political preferences in Moldova during the following decade, eventually contributing to the fall of the last Communist government in Europe. Our results are suggestive of information transmission and cultural diffusion channels. Identification relies on the quasi-experimental context and on the differential effects arising from the fact that emigration was directed both to more democratic Western Europe and to less democratic Russia.

JEL-codes: D72 D83 F22 P23 P26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.20150517
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (87)

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