Does temporary migration from rich to poor countries cause commitment to development?

The author is Lee Crawfurd and the subtitle of the paper is “Evidence from quasi-random Mormon mission assignments.”  Here is part of the abstract:

…we address this question using a natural experiment–the assignment of Mormon missionaries to two-year missions in different world regions–and test whether the attitudes and activities of returned missionaries differ. I find that assignment to a region in the global South causes returned missionaries to report greater interest in global development and poverty, but no difference in support for government aid or higher immigration, and no difference in personal donations or other involvement.

Maybe Mormons are different in this regard, or maybe missions are different (you feel you have done your bit?), but still an interesting result.

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