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Julia Seither
Senior Research Associate


Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics

University of Chicago



From Destination to Origin: Experimental Evidence on the International Spillovers of Migrant Integration


Working Paper


Catia Batista, Lara Bohnet, Jules Gazeaud, Julia Seither
2026

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APA   Click to copy
Batista, C., Bohnet, L., Gazeaud, J., & Seither, J. (2026). From Destination to Origin: Experimental Evidence on the International Spillovers of Migrant Integration.


Chicago/Turabian   Click to copy
Batista, Catia, Lara Bohnet, Jules Gazeaud, and Julia Seither. “From Destination to Origin: Experimental Evidence on the International Spillovers of Migrant Integration,” 2026.


MLA   Click to copy
Batista, Catia, et al. From Destination to Origin: Experimental Evidence on the International Spillovers of Migrant Integration. 2026.


BibTeX   Click to copy

@unpublished{catia2026a,
  title = {From Destination to Origin: Experimental Evidence on the International Spillovers of Migrant Integration},
  year = {2026},
  author = {Batista, Catia and Bohnet, Lara and Gazeaud, Jules and Seither, Julia}
}

International migration can promote development in both origin and destination countries. We hypothesize that migrant integration in destination countries is an important constraint on these gains. Using a randomized controlled trial, we study the effects of a low-cost, scalable digital intervention designed to reduce information frictions among Cape Verdean immigrants in Portugal. Access to the intervention improves migrants’ labor market outcomes, legal status, social integration with native-born individuals, and aspirations. These integration gains generate international spillovers, increasing political participation and leading to more egalitarian gender norms in the migrants’ origin-country. Leveraging variation in official destination country electoral data, we show that political participation transmits through increased exposure of better-integrated migrants to prevalent local norms at destination. These international turnout spillovers are weaker in localities with higher far-right support, consistent with a less migrant welcoming political climate attenuating norm diffusion.



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