Migration and regional convergence: An empirical investigation for Turkey

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Kirdar M. G., SARAÇOĞLU D. Ş.

PAPERS IN REGIONAL SCIENCE, vol.87, no.4, pp.545-567, 2008 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 87 Issue: 4
  • Publication Date: 2008
  • Doi Number: 10.1111/j.1435-5957.2008.00178.x
  • Journal Name: PAPERS IN REGIONAL SCIENCE
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.545-567
  • Keywords: Regional convergence, regional growth, internal migration, fixed effects, IV estimation, GROWTH
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

The standard growth model predicts that allowing labour mobility across regions would increase the speed of convergence in per capita income levels and that migration has a negative causal impact on regional growth rates. Although the empirical literature has uncovered some evidence for the former implication, the latter has not been verified empirically. This paper provides empirical evidence for the negative causal impact of migration on provincial growth rates in a developing country with a high level of internal migration characterized by unskilled labour exiting rural areas for urban centres. We utilize an instrumental variables estimation method with an instrument unique to the country examined, controlling for provincial fixed effects.