Migração, seleção e diferenças regionais de renda no Brasil

Abstract

This article investigates whether Brazilian migrants—individuals that live outside their home State—are favorably self-selected. We use data from the 1999 PNAD and show that migrants earn more, on average, than non-migrants. This is true either when “non-migrant” is defined an individual born and living in the same state that the migrant lives currently or that the migrant was born. We run a group of Mincerian regressions and find that, even after controlling for a large group of variables relevant to labor income determination, migrants earn more than non-migrants. Hence, we conclude that migrants are positively self-selected in Brazil.