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Do you have to be tall and educated to be a migrant? Evidence from Spanish recruitment records, 1890–1950

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  • Juif, Dácil
  • Quiroga, Gloria

Abstract

We use Spanish military records stemming from the late-19th to the mid-20th century to assess internal migrants’ self-selection. We find that migrants were, on average over the whole period, around one centimeter taller than non-migrants, and in the booming 1920s, the height advantage of movers reached three centimeters. The positive self-selection was larger for migrants originating in poorer provinces and traveling longer distances. A further finding is that migrants were positively selected in terms of literacy and socio-economic status according to their occupation. Professionals were most likely to have migrated internally and farmers least.

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  • Juif, Dácil & Quiroga, Gloria, 2019. "Do you have to be tall and educated to be a migrant? Evidence from Spanish recruitment records, 1890–1950," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 115-124.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:34:y:2019:i:c:p:115-124
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2018.12.006
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