Partition, migration, and jute cultivation in India

Fenske, James and Bharadwaj, Prashant (2011): Partition, migration, and jute cultivation in India.

Abstract

We show that refugees can play positive roles in receiving economies by looking at the partition of India. We use an instrumental variables (IV) strategy to show that migrants played a major part in India's take-up of jute cultivation. Our estimates suggest that migrants fully explain post-partition jute cultivation. Consistent with migrants bringing jute-specific skills with them, we find that migrants did not depress jute yields, did not increase the cultivation of other crops, and did not lower native wages. Our results are robust to migrant selection into districts with the best markets for jute.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Jute; Partition; Migration; India
• Subjects: N - Economic History > N5 - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment, and Extractive Industries > N55 - Asia including Middle East; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products

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worldjute.com History of Jute available at http://www.worldjute.com/about_jute/juthist.html, As downloaded on January 8th, 2011.