Within-group Heterogeneity in a Multi-ethnic Society

Abstract : Is ethnic diversity good or bad for economic development? Most empirical studies find corrosive effects. In this paper, I show that ethnic diversity need not spell poor development outcomes–a history of within-group heterogeneity can turn ethnic diversity into an advantage for development. I collect new data on a natural experiment from Peru's colonial history: the forced resettlement of native populations in the 16th century. This intervention forced together various ethnic groups in new jurisdictions. Where these groups were composed of more heterogeneous subpopulations, working in different ecological zones of the Andes prior to colonization, ethnic diversity has systematically lower costs and may even become advantageous. Cultural transmission is one likely channel. Specifically, where different ethnic groups were composed of more heterogeneous subpopulations, they engage in more reciprocal behavior and exhibit more open attitudes toward out-group members.

---

Mass Emigration and Human Capital over a Century: Evidence from the Galician Diaspora

Abstract : This article examines the effects of mass emigration on human capital accumulation at origin throughout a century. The context is the Galician diaspora, a massive episode with the equivalent of 60% of the region's 1900 population emigrating to Latin America during 1900-30. I construct a database of all Galician municipalities combining newly-digitized historical data with contemporary census and survey data and exploit two sources of plausibly exogenous variation for identification: pioneer emigration caused by extreme rainfall and changes in economic growth in the main migrant destinations. I find that while emigration depressed literacy rates at origin in the short run, its impact became positive after one decade and led to gains in human capital that still persist one hundred years later. I provide evidence on two novel mechanisms of how emigrants can increase human capital in the long run. Galician emigrants funded associations that financed the construction of schools in their hometowns and diffused norms conducive to a persistent change in beliefs about the value of education.

---

Ideological Contagion and Populism: Evidence from Argentina

Abstract : This paper studies the transmission of political ideologies between two countries. I study the diffusion of Populism in Argentina from 1946 through the lenses of the Italian mass migration wave (1880-1945). I hypothesize that populist aspects of Mussolini's Fascist ideology spread to Argentina through migrants, contributing to the rise of Peronism. I focus on Italo-Argentine members of the Argentine parliament and reconstruct their Italian province of origin leveraging on the distribution of surnames and machine learning techniques. Exploiting the timing of migration, a plausibly exogenous measure of exposure to Fascism, and the occurrence of strong earthquakes as push factor for migration, I show that Italo-Argentine MPs with ancestors migrated during Mussolini's rise have a higher probability to be affiliated to the Peronist party. Findings are robust to samples perturbations, placebo tests, and several specification checks, and are mostly significant when looking at recent years. I provide suggestive evidence that ideological transmission occurred by means of a combination of vertical transmission along family lines and transmission through migrants' associations in Argentina and nationalist policies.

---