Land property rights and international migration: Evidence from Mexico

Abstract

In this paper, I ask whether there is a relationship between land property rights and international migration. In order to identify the impact of property rights, I consider a country-wide land certification program that took place in Mexico in the 1990s. My identification strategy exploits the staggered implementation and the households' eligibility for the program. I find that the program increased the eligible households' likelihood of having one or more members abroad by 12%. In terms of the number of migrants, my coefficient estimates explain 26% of the 1994–1997 increase in migrants from ejido areas and 13–15% of the increase from all of Mexico. Consistent with our theoretical model, the impact is strongest for households without a land will. This implies that land inheritance issues drive at least part of the effect.