Aggarwal, Ashish (2021) Three essays on the economic and political causes and consequences of migration in Asia. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The thesis consists of three chapters. While each chapter may be read as an independent research piece, they are connected by an overarching theme of studying economic and political causes and consequences of migration. The first two chapters look into a historical episode of migration, and the third chapter studies contemporary migration.

In Chapter 1 I create a novel dataset on annual district-level outflows of indentured migrants from colonial India to several British colonies in the period 1860-1912. I use a differences-in-differences approach to show that famines increased indentures. Within British ruled districts, the effect of famines varied according to the land-revenue collection system established by the British. Where landlords collected revenue, emigration responded less to famine. I use the year the district was annexed by Britain to construct an instrument for the land-revenue system. Qualitative evidence suggests that landlords viewed the emigration as a loss of labour and were unlikely to grant remissions on tax liabilities to their tenants; this increased tenant debt, preventing them from migrating in times of distress. In contrast with British-ruled districts, greater emigration during famine years is not witnessed in Princely states, where local rulers adopted generous measures during famine years in order to help the population.

In Chapter 2 we ask whether emigration is associated with political competition in places of origin of the emigrants. My co-authors and I study the first limited franchise elections held in colonial India in 1920. Using constituency-level electoral returns, ship registers of indentured emigrants to the British colony of Natal, and the 1921 Census of India, we find that districts that send more migrants, as a share of their population, witness more competitive elections. In addition, it was the emigration of the caste group most likely to benefit from the franchise expansion, the intermediate castes, that is associated with increased competition. We also find that emigration is associated with more competitive elections in districts where there is more diversity in terms of caste groups. We argue that return migration is the channel via which indentured emigration may be associated with political competition at the places of origin. Emigration increased knowledge of politics and financial resources amongst migrant populations, resulting in more competitive political dynamics.

In the process of economic development, rural workers migrate to cities, which can have a profound impact on their political and social attitudes. In Chapter 3, my co-authors and I analyse nationally representative survey data from China and India on attitudes towards corruption, economic inequality, gender equality, and just-world beliefs. We find that rural-urban migrants are much less accepting of economic inequality and corruption, and more strongly believe in gender equality and just-world beliefs than the average rural person. We then test three competing explanations for this stylised fact: selection, assimilation, and transformative experience. We find some empirical support for a selection effect. Individuals who migrate are different ex ante, which partly explains why they hold different views. After accounting for these initial differences, however, migrants still stand out. There is little evidence that rural-urban migrants are assimilating to urban attitudes. They are more concerned about corruption, economic inequality and gender equality than the average urban person. Instead, we argue that migration is a transformative experience, with long-lasting effects on migrants’ world views. This experience is personal. We do not find evidence that it is transmitted to non-migrant family members.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions J Political Science > JV Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Asia -- Emigration and immigration -- Economic aspects, Asia -- Emigration and immigration -- Political aspects, India -- Emigration and immigration -- Economic aspects, India -- Emigration and immigration -- Political aspects, India -- Emigration and immigration -- History -- 19th century, India -- Emigration and immigration -- History -- 20th century
Official Date:	September 2021
Dates:	Date Event September 2021 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Economics
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Fenske, James ; Imbert, Clément (Postdoctoral researcher)
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	xi, 150 leaves : illustrations, 1 map
Language:	eng

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