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

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Toman Barsbai; Hillel Rapoport; Andreas Steinmayr; Christoph Trebesch

Version: View help for Version V1

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APP2015-0517_data			10/12/2019 01:14:PM
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Project Citation:

Barsbai, Toman, Rapoport, Hillel, Steinmayr, Andreas, and Trebesch, Christoph. Replication data for: The Effect of Labor Migration on the Diffusion of Democracy: Evidence from a Former Soviet Republic. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2017. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-10-12. https://doi.org/10.3886/E113668V1

Project Description

Summary: 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.

Scope of Project

JEL Classification:
      D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
      D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
      F22 International Migration
      P23 Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: Factor and Product Markets; Industry Studies; Population
      P26 Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: Political Economy; Property Rights

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V1 [2019-10-12]

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