How Migrants Benefit Poor Communities: Evidence on Collective Action in Rural Zambia

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of internal in-migration on cooperation in rural farming communities in Zambia. Potentially, in-migration could trigger discrimination, decrease overall levels of trust, and hence negatively impact the propensity for collective action. We measure cooperative behavior through self-reported survey information and incentivized decisions in a lab-in-the-field experiment. First, we find no evidence in the survey and experimental data that in-migration negatively affects cooperation across villages. Second, we find evidence that in villages where income inequalities between migrants and locals are more pronounced, migrants contribute more to public goods if exposed as the minority in the experiment.