Settling prosperity: Historical immigration and its long-term institutional legacies

• Immigrant settlements in the State of São Paulo led to long-term improvements in public goods provision and property rights. • Brazilian municipalities near historical settlements exhibit stronger legal formalization. • In Brazil, historical settlements increased notarial activity and fiscal capacity. • Brazil's state-led immigration policy shaped regional economic and institutional development. During Brazil’s Age of Mass Migration (1880s-1930s), the state sponsored immigrant settlements in São Paulo. Using a new dataset that combines historical and modern administrative records, this paper explores the institutional impact of these settlements. Municipalities closer to them now enjoy better public goods provision and more well-defined property rights, as reflected in structured contractual arrangements, fewer land invasions, and increased investments in high-stakes agricultural practices. Intermediate data show that settlement municipalities recorded higher notarial activity, more frequent legal transactions, and greater land tax revenues in the years following settlement. These changes supported improvements in local governance, legal certainty, and public investment. Overall, the findings highlight how state-led settlement shaped regional economic and institutional development, showing that the implementation of immigration policy had lasting effects on local growth trajectories.