The pro-export effect of subnational migration networks: new evidence from Spanish provinces

Abstract The paper investigates the effect that subnational networks of immigrants and emigrants had on exports from Spanish provinces (NUTS3) over period 2007–2016 by integrating state-of-the-art advances in gravity model literature. In particular, it allows for heterogeneity provincial export capacity, which significantly reduces pro-export effects, select Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood as most suitable estimator according to diagnostic tests. When both immigration emigration are instrumented, found previous studies vanishes emigrants, instead, appears appreciable. results obtained suggest encompasses double-deep crisis, did not show significant information enforcement effects considered context, while emigrant demand home-country goods may have been important. prevalence immigrant attributable a change composition migration stocks crisis.