Interstate return migration and self-selection: evidence from Brazil

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to analyze the impacts of interstate migration on the earnings of workers returning to their states of birth in Brazil. To this purpose, we use data from the 2007 National Household Survey – Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD) and an empirical model of joint determina¬tion of migration and earnings. The findings indicate that return migrants are negatively selected compared to permanent migrants. However, we observed that return migrants with high levels of education earn more in the state of birth, probably due a specific human capital accumulation in the state of destination.