Persecution and Migrant Self-Selection: Evidence from the Collapse of the Communist Bloc
利用苏联及卫星国的人口普查微观数据，分析共产主义解体前后移民的自我选择，发现因迫害而移民者教育水平更高、劳动力市场表现更好，且这一模式不能完全由移民限制解除解释。
Abstract How does persecution affect who migrates? We analyze migrants' self-selection out of the USSR and its satellite states before and after the collapse of Communism using census microdata. We find that migrants arriving before and around the time of the collapse (who were more likely to have moved because of persecution) were more educated and obtained better labor market outcomes than those arriving later. This change is not fully explained by the removal of Communist-era emigration restrictions. Instead, we show both theoretically and empirically that this pattern is consistent with more positive self-selection of migrants who are motivated by persecution.