“Essays on Migration and Culture” (working title)
Dissertation project
Where You Lead I Will Follow: Heterogeneity in Migration Network Effects Across Cultures (under review)
Abstract: Diasporas shape migrant sorting, but their precise role is unclear. I argue that socially interdependent societies generate more community-specific social capital, increasing migration costs and network value. Analysis of bilateral migration to OECD countries shows a 70\% stronger network effect for migrants from embedded cultures compared to autonomous ones. This heterogeneity is robust to measures of social interdependence with exhaustive fixed effects and is not driven by wealth, cultural distance, mobility restrictions, or feedback from past migration flows. Lower out-group trust in embedded societies emerges as a key channel, with cultural background shaping network effects beyond information and financial flows.
Bogatzki, Tamara (2021): Heterogeneity in Migration Network Effects Across Cultures. WZB Discussion Paper SP VI 2021-102. WZB.
Trafficking as Choice? Evidence from Nigeria
Abstract: The discourse surrounding human trafficking often portrays migrants as naive subjects of deceit and disinformation. Yet, some argue that migrants actively choose trafficking as a migration strategy. We shed light on this discussion by investigating original data from a two-wave repeated cross-section of approximately 2,700 individuals fielded in 2021 and 2023 in Edo State, Nigeria, a focal point for international migration and human trafficking. Our data shows that a significant share of respondents express a willingness to expose themselves to human trafficking to migrate even when this arrangement could lead to forced labor to pay back one's debt to the trafficker. Results from a list experiment indicate that we likely underestimate the willingness to rely on human trafficking in direct assessments, especially among women. The downward-bias may result from female trafficking oftentimes leading to socially stigmatized and forced sex work. Yet on average, survey respondents are well-informed about the risks and earnings potential associated with trafficking. Investigating whether information is differently processed if aspirations are high, we find no evidence for self-deception or recall biases regarding the processing of information about trafficking. Instead, we suggest that individuals who would expose themselves to human trafficking exhibit high migration aspirations but limited migration capabilities, especially with respect to financial opportunities and formal education. While our study shows that choosing this high-risk migration mode does not stem from naivety, becoming receptive to trafficking due to low migration capabilities should not be confused with making the same decision under full freedom of choice.
Bogatzki, Tamara/Meierrieks, Daniel (2024): "Nicht einfach naiv. Gründe und Hintergründe des Menschenhandels in Nigeria". In: WZB-Mitteilungen, H. 2=Nr. 184, S. 48-51.
Bogatzki, Tamara/Dolling, Jérôme (2024): "Many People Know the Dangers of Human Trafficking but Choose to Take the Risk". In: Africa at LSE Blog, 30.07.2024.
Have you met the French? Intergenerational Transmission of Mobility
Abstract: Does exposure to a foreign destination, its culture and inhabitants increase migration intentions over multiple generations? During the two world wars, France (forcibly) recruited soldiers from their overseas territories in West Africa to fight alongside its mainland soldiers abroad. Open ing the black box of colonial ties in predicting international emigration and exploring the intergenerational transmission of mobility, I find that descendants of conscripts are significantly more likely to have already migrated themselves (sons) and to have higher migration intentions and plans (grandsons) to migrate in the future.