Partition, Migration, and Jute Cultivation in India

The partition of India separated the jute mills of West Bengal from the farms in Bangladesh that supplied raw materials. The demand for loose jute in India rose dramatically, and Indian farmers responded by expanding jute acreage. At the same time, some three million migrants arrived in Eastern India, creating a shock to the supply of skills and labor in agriculture. This study uses an instrumental variables (IV) strategy to investigate the extent to which migration conditioned the post-1947 take-up of jute in India, finding that those districts most affected by net migration were those that most readily adopted the cultivation of jute. Net migration resulted on average in a near doubling of jute output in eastern districts of India. Consistent with a model in which migrants bring jute specific skills from Bangladesh, we find that migrant presence was related to an increase in jute yields of 3lbs/acre on average. Hence, both migrants and the receiving economy during a large involuntary migration and at a time of immense human suffering adapted in response to market forces