The Aggregate Productivity Effects of Internal Migration: Evidence from Indonesia

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bryan, Gharad; Morten, Melanie
• 署名单位: University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; Stanford University; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-3808
• DOI: 10.1086/701810
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 2229-2268
• 关键词: trade; TECHNOLOGY

摘要

We estimate the aggregate productivity gains from reducing barriers to internal labor migration in Indonesia, accounting for worker selection and spatial differences in human capital. We distinguish between movement costs, which mean workers will move only if they expect higher wages, and amenity differences, which mean some locations must pay more to attract workers. We find modest but important aggregate impacts. We estimate a 22 percent increase in labor productivity from removing all barriers. Reducing migration costs to the US level, a high-mobility benchmark, leads to a 7.1 percent productivity boost. These figures hide substantial heterogeneity. The origin population that benefits most sees a 104 percent increase in average earnings from a complete barrier removal, or a 25 percent gain from moving to the US benchmark.