Forced Migration and Human Capital: Evidence from Post-WWII Population Transfers

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Becker, Sascha O.; Grosfeld, Irena; Grosjean, Pauline; Voigtlander, Nico; Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina
• 署名单位: Monash University; University of Warwick; Paris School of Economics; University of New South Wales Sydney; University of California System; University of California Los Angeles; University of London; University College London
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20181518
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 1430-1463
• 关键词: PREFERENCES CHANGE; immigration; RISK; IMPACT; ECONOMICS; diaspora; BEHAVIOR; outcomes

摘要

We study the long-run effects of forced migration on investment in education. After World War II, millions of Poles were forcibly uprooted from the Kresy territories of eastern Poland and resettled (primarily) in the newly acquired Western Territories, from which the Germans were expelled. We combine historical censuses with newly collected survey data to show that, while there were no pre-WWII differences in educational attainment, Poles with a family history of forced migration are significantly more educated today than other Poles. These results are driven by a shift in preferences away from material possessions toward investment in human capital.