Breaking out of poverty traps: Internal migration and interregional convergence in Russia

Abstract

Guriev, Sergei, and Vakulenko, Elena-Breaking out of poverty traps: Internal migration and interregional convergence in RussiaWe study barriers to labor mobility using panel data on gross region-to-region migration flows in Russia in 1996-2010. Using both parametric and semiparametric methods and controlling for region-to-region pairwise fixed effects, we find a non-monotonic relation-ship between income and migration. In richer regions, higher incomes result in lower migration outflows. However, in the poorest regions, an increase in incomes results in higher emigration. This is consistent with the presence of geographical poverty traps: potential migrants want to leave the poor regions but cannot afford to move. We also show that economic growth and financial development have allowed most Russian regions to grow out of poverty traps bringing down interregional differentials of wages, incomes and unemployment rates. Journal of Comparative Economics 43 (3) (2015) 633-649. Sciences Po,

The effect of minimum wage on poverty

“…However, non‐participation may be related to migration, refusal to participate or other reasons. Moreover, interregional migration flows in Russia decreased by the period of analysis (Guriev and Vakulenko, ).…”

“…The results of this estimation revealed a statistically significant positive effect of the status of the low-wage worker on future non-participation. However, non-participation may be related to migration, refusal to participate or other (Guriev and Vakulenko, 2015). The final robustness check addressed the issue of non-representativeness of the sample at the regional level.…”

A Study of the Socioeconomic Factors Influencing Migration in Russia

“…Searching for a better economic condition is the major reason for migration currently, particularly on labor migration, including factors such as salary, job opportunities, employment situation, market scale and so forth [8,[22][23][24][25][26][27]. The labor migration rates are higher for the highly educated and the young, with most being unmarried [27][28][29].…”

Interregional Migration in the Soviet Russia: Factors and Effectiveness of Management

“…Последним шагом будет являться выяснение того, повлияла ли степень концентрации инвестиций в регионах на потоки населения между ними. Для получения ответов на сформулированные выше вопросы в настоящей статье используется расширенная гравитационная модель, которая применялась ранее для анализа миграции населения (Greenwood, 2010;Guriev, Vakulenko, 2015):…”