Political favoritism and internal migration in Benin

Arbeitspapier

In this paper we explore the role of regional connections with a national leader as a pull factor of internal migration in Benin by exploiting granular census data over the period 1991-2013. The empirical analysis is based on a gravity model of migration and utilizes a PPML estimator. Controlling for a diverse set of fixed effects, we show that being connected to a national leader goes along with statistically significant levels of migration into the respective districts. We also provide more detailed evidence that links these migration movements to the presence of political favoritism through its ability to improve economic opportunities and the access to public goods at the local level. The evidence in this paper blends in well with the related literature on political favoritism extending it by a previously unexplored dimension.

Object Details

• ISBN: 978-3-96973-200-7
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Ruhr Economic Papers ; No. 1031

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption ; Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes ; Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics ; Economywide Country Studies: Africa
• Subject: Favoritism ; internal migration ; spatiality ; luminosity ; Africa

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Stöcker, Alexander ; Baskaran, Thushyanthan ; Hufschmidt, Patrick
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung
• (where): Essen
• (when): 2023

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.4419/96973200
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/274029
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET