{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T10:03:46Z","timestamp":1791972226809,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":56,"publisher":"The Econometric Society","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,1]],"date-time":"2026-01-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1767225600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100019180","name":"HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100019180","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["ECTA"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This paper studies the economic effects of rural\u2010urban migration on Brazilian cities. Using a shift\u2010share IV design, we show that, over a decade, drought\u2010induced immigration reduces informality, has no effect on unemployment, and increases the number of formal firms and jobs. Downward formal wage adjustments play a key role, as these long\u2010run effects are weaker in regions with stronger wage rigidity. In the short run, when wage rigidity is strongest, we replicate the informality\u2010increasing effects documented in the literature. We develop and estimate a model of firm dynamics and informality that rationalizes these results. The counterfactuals reveal that, in the short run, the informal sector absorbs the expanding labor force and acts as a \u201cstepping\u2010stone\u201d to formality for firms and workers. In the long run, however, it reduces the aggregate benefits from immigration by allowing the least productive firms to survive.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3982\/ecta21854","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,2]],"date-time":"2026-06-02T09:09:52Z","timestamp":1780391392000},"page":"911-939","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Rural Migrants and Urban Informality: Evidence From Brazil"],"prefix":"10.3982","volume":"94","author":[{"given":"Clement","family":"Imbert","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Economics, Sciences Po"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gabriel","family":"Ulyssea","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Economics, University College London"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2359","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"reference":[{"issue":"3","key":"ecta70036-bib-0001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1279","DOI":"10.1093\/restud\/rdaa057","volume":"88","author":"Abebe","year":"2021","journal-title":"The Review of Economic Studies"},{"issue":"4","key":"ecta70036-bib-0002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1949","DOI":"10.1093\/qje\/qjz025","volume":"134","author":"Ad\u00e3o","year":"2019","journal-title":"The Quarterly Journal of Economics"},{"key":"ecta70036-bib-0003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Albert, Christoph, Paula Bustos, and Jacopo Ponticelli (2021), \u201cThe Effects of Climate Change on Labor and Capital Reallocation.\u201d CEPR Discussion Papers 16312, C.E.P.R. 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