ERIA-DP-2014-09 ERIA Discussion Paper Series Migrant Networks and Trade: The Vietnamese Boat People as a Natural Experiment * CHRISTOPHER PARSONS University of Oxford † PIERRE-LOUIS VÉZINA University of Oxford May 2014 Abstract: We provide cogent evidence for the causal pro-trade effect of migrants and in doing so establish an important link between migrant networks and long-run economic development. To this end, we exploit a unique event in human history, the exodus of the Vietnamese Boat People to the US. This episode represents an ideal natural experiment as the large immigration shock, the first wave of which comprised refugees exogenously allocated across the US, occurred over a twenty- year period during which time the US imposed a complete trade embargo on Vietnam. Following the lifting of trade restrictions in 1994, the share of US exports going to Vietnam was higher and more diversified in those US States with larger Vietnamese populations, themselves the result of larger refugee inflows 20 years earlier. Key words: Migrant Networks, US Exports, Natural Experiment JEL classification: F14; F22 * Department of International Development, University of Oxford, Queen Elizabeth House, 3 Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TB, UK. Email:
[email protected]. † Department of Economics, niversity of Oxford Manor Road Building, Manor Road, Oxford OX1 3UQ, UK. Email:
[email protected]. We would like to thank Mary May at the US Census Bureau for dealing with our data purchases. We are also grateful to Michel Beine,