Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/141553 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9794
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper focuses on the impact of international migration on the transfer of political and social norms. Exploiting recent and unique data on Morocco, it explores whether households with return and current migrants bear different political preferences and behaviours than non-migrant families. Once controlling for the double selection into emigration and return migration, findings suggest that having a returnee in the household increases the demand for political and social change, driven by returnees mostly from Western European countries, who have been exposed to more democratic norms at destination. However, we find a negative impact of having a current migrant on the willingness to change of the left-behind household, driven by migrants to non-West countries, where the quality of political and social institutions are lower. Our results are robust to also controlling for destination selectivity. Finally, findings suggest that migration not only affect political attitudes but also actual behaviour: regions with higher returnee shares have had greater participation rates in the 2011 political elections.
Subjects: 
international migration
political change
transfer of norms
Morocco
JEL: 
D72
F22
O15
O55
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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