Record Details

Migration, Diversity, and Economic Development: Post-WWII Displacement in Poland

Harvard Dataverse (Africa Rice Center, Bioversity International, CCAFS, CIAT, IFPRI, IRRI and WorldFish)

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Title Migration, Diversity, and Economic Development: Post-WWII Displacement in Poland
 
Identifier https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/BPAFAA
 
Creator Charnysh, Volha
 
Publisher Harvard Dataverse
 
Description How does cultural diversity affect social organization? Do institutional differences between diverse and homogeneous communities have implications for economic development? I argue that heterogeneity not only weakens informal enforcement mechanisms that rely on shared norms and networks, but also creates demand for formal (public-order) institutions provided by the state. I further argue that the predominance of formal over informal institutional mechanisms in more heterogeneous communities can lead to divergent economic outcomes when formal institutions adequately protect private property and enforce contracts. In particular, greater reliance on formal law and public authority facilitates economic development by enabling arm’s length transactions and encouraging entrepreneurship. I provide empirical evidence for this argument by drawing on micro-level historical data on population transfers following the shift in Poland’s borders in 1945, one of the largest episodes of forced migration in Europe’s recent history. The border changes triggered resettlement of nearly six million people, or one-fifth of Poland’s pre-war population, from the USSR, Central Poland, and Western and Southern Europe into the communities abandoned by ethnic Germans. Arbitrary resettlement procedures produced varying degrees of cultural heterogeneity at the local level. I find that homogeneous migrant groups were more successful in reestablishing private-order institutions that relied on informal enforcement mechanisms, such as volunteer fire brigades, while diverse migrant communities depended on the state for the provision of public goods and enforcement of cooperative behavior. Economically similar during state socialism, communities settled by diverse migrants in the 1940s registered higher incomes and greater entrepreneurship following the transition to a market economy. Their residents also express greater confidence in formal institutions, such as courts and the police.
 
Subject Social Sciences
forced migration, cultural diversity, WWII, social capital, economic development, Poland, entrepreneurship, formal institutions, informal institutions, public-order institutions, historical legacies
 
Contributor Charnysh, Volha
 
Source Archive of Modern Records in Poland; Main Statistical Office of Poland; EBRD and World Bank Surveys.