Current Research: Internal Migration and Urban Wages in Brazil 1980-2000.

Abstract: When migrants have different education levels when compared to current urban workers, then it is possible that the inflow of migrants will impact the gap between high and low skill wages. Previous work on this topic has focused on international migration in developed countries. However, recent research has found evidence that regional policies can lead to an increase (or decrease) in the number of rural to urban migrants. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study to use an instrument to look at the impact of rural-urban migration on city wages.

We use data the Brazilian Census for 1980 to 2000 to estimate the elasticity of substitution between high and low skill workers. We instrument for the change in the ratio of high to low skill workers, with rural-urban migrants (driven by rainfall shocks in rural areas). We find an elasticity of substitution between high and low skill workers of 0.4, much smaller than previous studies. This implies that migration is only responsible for 3% of the decrease in the wage gap between high and low skill workers, in Brazil, between 1991 and 2000.

Revising Paper: Maids and School Teachers: Low Skill Migration and Skill Labor Supply.

Abstract: Over the 40 years the pattern of migration has changed significantly with an increase in the share of female migrants, and especially low skill female migrants. These low skilled women migrants often work in the domestic service sector, a close substitute for household work.

This paper analyzes how low skill rural-urban migration in Brazil from 1986 to 2000 lead to an increase in the labor supply of high skill women living in urban areas. In our model we show how large inflows of low skill women migrants decrease the relative price of domestic services. The largest beneficiaries of this trend are high skill women, who respond to the decrease in the cost of domestic services by joining the labor force and working more hours. We use Census data from Brazil from 1991 and 2000 to test this hypothesis. Using weather shocks in rural areas, and historical patterns of migrations, we are able to build an exogenous migration shock by skill to cities. Using this as an instrument for the price of domestic services and local wages we find that a 10% decrease in the wage of domestic workers increases the labor participation of high skill women by 3%