Internal Borders and Migration in India

47 Pages Posted: 21 Nov 2017 Last revised: 30 Apr 2018

See all articles by Zovanga Louis Kone

Zovanga Louis Kone

World Bank Group

Maggie Y. Liu

U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Tax Analysis (OTA)

Aaditya Mattoo

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)

Caglar Ozden

World Bank

Siddharth Sharma

The World Bank

Date Written: November 20, 2017

Abstract

Internal mobility is a critical component of economic growth and development, as it enables the reallocation of labor to more productive opportunities across sectors and regions. Using detailed district-to-district migration data from the 2001 Census of India, the paper highlights the role of state borders as significant impediments to internal mobility. The analysis finds that average migration between neighboring districts in the same state is at least 50 percent larger than neighboring districts on different sides of a state border, even after accounting for linguistic differences. Although the impact of state borders differs by education, age, and reason for migration, it is always large and significant. The paper suggests that inter-state mobility is inhibited by state-level entitlement schemes, ranging from access to subsidized goods through the public distribution system to the bias for states' own residents in access to tertiary education and public sector employment.

Keywords: Educational Sciences, Gender and Development, Employment and Unemployment, Labor Markets, International Trade and Trade Rules

Suggested Citation

Kone, Zovanga Louis and Liu, Maggie Y. and Mattoo, Aaditya and Ozden, Caglar and Sharma, Siddharth, Internal Borders and Migration in India (November 20, 2017). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 8244, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3074907

Zovanga Louis Kone (Contact Author)

World Bank Group ( email )

10 Marina Boulevard
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Maggie Y. Liu

U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Tax Analysis (OTA) ( email )

1500 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20220
United States

Aaditya Mattoo

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG) ( email )

1818 H Street, N.W.
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HOME PAGE: http://econ.worldbank.org/staff/amattoo

Caglar Ozden

World Bank ( email )

1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

Siddharth Sharma

The World Bank ( email )

2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States

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