Can online experiences that illustrate the life of vulnerable populations improve prosocial behaviors and prejudice by improving perspective-taking and empathy? We randomly assign 850 individuals to: i) an online game that immerses individuals in the life decisions of forced migrants and ii) a documentary of the migration process of forced migrants. Both treatments effectively improve altruism and prejudice towards migrants. Although, only the game improves trust towards migrants, the impacts of both treatments are not statistically different in any of the outcomes that we examine. We also document that the effects of the game are mainly driven by changes on perspective-taking.

We examine the role of Venezuelan forced migration on the propagation of 15 infectious diseases in Colombia. For this purpose, we use rich municipal-monthly panel data. We exploit the fact that municipalities closer to the main migration entry points have a disproportionate exposure to infected migrants when the cumulative migration flows increase. We find that higher refugee inflows are associated with increments in the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases, such as chickenpox and tuberculosis, as well as sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS and syphilis. However, we find no significant effects of migration on the propagation of vector-borne diseases. READ MORE >>

Can repatriation inflows impact firm behavior in origin countries? This paper examines this question in the context of repatriation inflows from the United States and Mexico to El Salvador. The paper combines a rich longitudinal data set covering all formal firms in El Salvador with individual-level data on all registered repatriations from 2010 to 2017. The empirical strategy combines variation in the municipality of birth of individuals repatriated over 1995–2002—before a significant change in deportation policies—with annual variation in aggregate inflows of repatriations to El Salvador. The findings show that repatriations have large negative effects on the average wages of formal workers. This is mainly driven by formal firms in sectors that face more intense competition from the informal sector, which deportees are more likely to join. Repatriation inflows also reduce total employment among formal firms in those sectors. Given that most deportees spend less than a month abroad, these findings suggest that the experience of being detained and deported can have strong negative effects not only on the deportees, but also on their receiving communities. READ MORE >>