Migrants and imports

Evidence from Dutch firms

Bibliographic Data

ID9721820
AuthorsAksel Erbahar (0000-0001-7532-1456, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Tinbergen Institute Netherlands, corresponding author), Ömer Tarık Gençosmanoğlu (0000-0003-3979-6387, Turkish Ministry of Trade Turkey)
Year2023
Volume90
Issue360
Pages1204-1228
Publication date2023-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEconomica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-0427 • E-ISSN: 1468-0335
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ecca.12486
OpenAlexW4382202438
LanguageEN
References cited30

This paper examines the effect of hiring migrants on firms' imports using a rich employer–employee dataset from the Netherlands for 2010–17. We use an instrumental variables strategy, and find that firms that employ migrants from a high‐income country are more likely to import from that country. Our benchmark specification indicates that a one standard deviation increase in the share of migrant workers from a certain country raises their employer's probability of importing from those workers' origin country by 6.6 percentage points, explaining half of the average probability of importing from a given country. This result is robust to a battery of sensitivity checks, and the effects are driven largely by migrants working in trade intermediaries that import final goods and inputs. Our results suggest that migrants help to erode informational barriers and enable their employers to source goods from abroad

Benchmark (surveying) · Business · Country of origin · Demographic economics · Econometrics · Economics · Geography · Instrumental variable · Intermediary · Labour economics · Finance · Global trade and economics · Marketing · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy

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