RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 How Migrants Benefit Poor Communities: Evidence on Collective Action in Rural Zambia
JF Land Economics
JO Land Econ
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 111
OP 131
DO 10.3368/le.96.1.111
VO 96
IS 1
A1 Vorlaufer, Tobias
A1 Vollan, Björn
YR 2020
UL http://le.uwpress.org/content/96/1/111.abstract
AB This paper investigates the effects of internal in-migration on cooperation in rural farming communities in Zambia. Potentially, in-migration could trigger discrimination, decrease overall levels of trust, and hence negatively impact the propensity for collective action. We measure cooperative behavior through self-reported survey information and incentivized decisions in a lab-in-the-field experiment. First, we find no evidence in the survey and experimental data that in-migration negatively affects cooperation across villages. Second, we find evidence that in villages where income inequalities between migrants and locals are more pronounced, migrants contribute more to public goods if exposed as the minority in the experiment. (JEL H41, O15)