The Effects of Immigration on Agricultural Development: Brazil in the Age of Mass Migration
We study the effects of immigration during the Age of Mass Migration (1855–1920) on Brazil’s agricultural development in 1920. Instrumenting for a municipality’s immigrant share using the interaction of aggregate immigrant inflows and the expansion of Brazil’s railway network, we find that a greater share of European immigrants in a municipality led to an increase in farm values. The bulk of the effect was the product of more intense cultivation of land. We also find that it is unlikely that immigration slowed Brazil’s structural transformation. Our results imply that immigration into an emerging agricultural economy can contribute substantially to agricultural development.
Authors
- Ariell Zimran (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8081-2735)
- David Escamilla‐Guerrero (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5235-3586)
- Andrea Papadia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0107-5699)
Institutions
- University of St Andrews (GB)
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Government of the United States of America (US)
- University of York (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York)
- Published
- 2026-09-01
- Primary Topic
- Culture, Economy, and Development Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Vanderbilt University
- Wake Forest University
- Harvard University
- Baylor University
- Brandeis University
- London School of Economics and Political Science
- Economic History Society
- Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
- Wageningen University and Research