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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Thomas K. Bauer; Deborah A. Cobb-Clark; Vincent A. Hildebrand; Mathias Sinning |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the source of the gap in the relative wealth position of immigrant households residing in Australia, Germany and the United States. Our results indicate that in German and the United States wealth differentials are largely the result of disparity in the educational attainment and demographic composition of the native and immigrant populations, while income differentials are relatively unimportant in understanding the nativity wealth gap. In contrast, the relatively small wealth gap between Australian and foreign-born households, exists because immigrants to Australia do not translate their relative educational and demographic advantage into a wealth advantage. On balance, our results point to substantial cross-nationality disparity in the economic well-being of immigrant and native families, which is largely consistent with domestic labor markets and the selection policies used to shape the nature of immigration flow. |
| Keywords: | International migration, wealth accumulation |
| JEL: | F22 D31 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:554&r=mig |
| By: | Nordin, Martin (Department of Economics, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to examine if the returns to immigrants’ schooling are lower than the returns to natives’ schooling. In addition the paper tries to establish whether immigrants who invest in different amounts of Swedish education also differ in their returns to schooling. The results show that the difference in returns to schooling between immigrants and natives is generally quite small. Moreover, the returns to schooling are considerably higher for immigrants who arrived in Sweden during compulsory school age than for immigrants who arrived in Sweden after compulsory school age. Moreover, immigrants who complete their schooling in Sweden have, in general, much higher returns than immigrants with only foreign schooling. |
| Keywords: | Immigrants; return to schooling; incomes |
| JEL: | J15 J24 |
| Date: | 2007–05–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2007_012&r=mig |
| By: | Alejandro Portes (Princeton University); Patricia Fernandez-Kelly (Princeton University) |
| Abstract: | Immigration since the 1960s has transformed the nation. Today, close to one-fourth of the American population is of immigrant stock – immigrants themselves or children of immigrants. The same rough proportion holds among young Americans, aged 18 or younger. Children of immigrants and immigrant children exceed 30 million today and are, by far, the fastest growing component of this population. Hence, their destiny as they reach adulthood and seek to integrate socially and economically into the mainstream is more than of academic interest. |
| Date: | 2006–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:cmgdev:wp0703&r=mig |
| By: | Estrella Gualda (University of Huelva) |
| Abstract: | Previous research focusing on the study of immigrant offspring has shown inconclusive results and uncovered different ways of their incorporation into society. This contrasts with the unilateral model suggested by the more radical notions of “linear assimilation”, for instance, the possibility of an “upward” as well as a “downward assimilation”, giving rise to the segmented assimilation thesis (Portes and Zhou, 1993; Portes and Rumbaut, 2006). Some experts have given empirical evidence to support this view, but other researchers have pointed out that the model of “segmented assimilation” is not so productive in other cases or they have defended that it presents a pessimistic point of view on assimilation processes (see i.e. Alba and Nee, 2003). The majority of these debates have been focused on empirical data obtained in “old countries of immigration”. Since knowledge of second generation immigrant activity is of such importance to social, political and applied sciences in general the objective of this paper is to present a review of some of the theoretical and methodological problems encountered in the research of second generation immigrants in Spain and particularly in Andalusia and one its provinces, Huelva. It is hoped to contribute to the debate on the feasibility of researching this generation in “transitional contexts of immigration”, but also under the eye of the particularities regarding local contexts impregnated in a strong historical tradition of employing immigrants (at first national, later international migrants) according to the agricultural calendar. Primary data taken in Huelva and Andalusia (Spain), in a preliminary exploration, expose the similarities, differences and difficulties in researching second generations in transitional contexts. The first results, though preliminary, seems to give support to the thesis of segmented assimilation. |
| Keywords: | Second generation; children of immigrants; segmented assimilation; transitional countries of immigration; Huelva, Spain |
| Date: | 2007–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pri:cmgdev:wp0701&r=mig |
| By: | Lop ez, J. Humberto; Fajnzylber, Pablo; Acosta, Pablo |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the impact of remittances on poverty, education, and health in 11 Latin American countries using nationally representative household surveys and making an explicit attempt to account for one of the inherent costs associated with migration-the potential income that the migrant may have made at home. The main findings of the study are the following: (1) regardless of the counterfactual used remittances appear to lower poverty levels in most recipient countries; (2) yet despite this general tendency, the estimated impacts tend to be modest; and (3) there is significant country heterogeneity in the poverty reduction impact of remittances ' flows. Among the aspects that have been identified in the paper that may lead to varying outcomes across countries are the percentage of households reporting remittances income, the share of remittances of recipient households belonging to the lowest quintiles of the income distribution, and the relative importance of remittances flows with respect to GDP. While remittances tend to have positive effects on education and health, this impact is often restricted to specific groups of the population. |
| Keywords: | Population Policies,Remittances,Poverty Monitoring & Analysis,Pro-Poor Growth and Inequality,Small Area Estimation Poverty Mapping |
| Date: | 2007–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4247&r=mig |
| By: | Richard P.C. Brown (School of Economics, The University of Queensland); Gareth Leeves (School of Economics, The University of Queensland) |
| Abstract: | We use original 2005 survey data from Fiji and Tonga on remittances and household income to estimate the combined impact of migration and remittances on the composition of household income. A two-stage methodology is followed. A variable for the predicted number of migrants in each household is generated to control for selectivity in migration. This variable is then used in a 3SLS remittances and income equation system. In neither country do we observe significant impacts on agricultural cash income, but, in relation to other income sources, including subsistence agriculture, wages and non-agricultural business activities, some significant and different effects are found, both positive and negative. These findings suggest that the duration and intensity of remittance-driven migration, and the structure of economic activity within a community are important in understanding the influences of migration and remittances on household resource allocation and production decisions and on the community’s economic transformation. |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uq2004:347&r=mig |
| By: | Subhayu Bandyopadhyay; Ryo Takashima |
| Abstract: | We use a version of the small-union Meade model to consider the effects of interdependent import tariffs in the presence illegal immigration. First, we analyze the condition under which illegal immigration is likely to increase (or decrease) in response to reciprocal trade liberalization between the source and host nations (of illegal immigration). Next we describe the Nash equilibrium in tariffs between these nations and discus how a liberalization of tariffs starting from this Nash equilibrium is likely to affect their utility. Finally, we consider the effect of the host nation's liberalization of the import tariff (imposed on its imports from a third nation). We show that strategic considerations regarding the effect of this tariff liberalization on the Nash equilibrium tariffs can modify the traditional (trade creating/diverting) gains from such liberalization. |
| Keywords: | Trade ; Immigrants |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2007-21&r=mig |
| By: | Cristobal, Adolfo |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a 2-country 3-region economic geography model that can account for the most salient stylized facts experienced by Eastern European transition economies during the 1990s. In contrast to the existing literature, which has favored technological explanations, trade liberalization and factor mobility are the only driving forces. The model correctly predicts that in the first half of the decade trade liberalization led to divergence in GDP per capita, both between the West and the East and within the East. Consistent with the data, in the second half of the decade, internal labor mobility in the East reversed this process, and convergence became the dominant force. The model furthermore shows that the same U-shaped pattern applies to relative industrialization of West and East, although within the East the hinterland continued to lose industry throughout the decade. |
| Keywords: | Trade liberalization; migration; convergence; welfare. |
| JEL: | J30 F22 F12 F16 |
| Date: | 2007–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:3446&r=mig |
| By: | Kohnert, Dirk |
| Abstract: | The number of migrants from conflict regions in Africa has been increasing dramatically. The European Union shares dual responsibility for the continuing migration pressure: First, because they fostered over decades corrupt and autocratic regimes with dire disregard to principles of ‘good governance’. The aftermath of these regimes is still to be felt today, and constitutes one of the underlying factors for politically motivated migration. Secondly, the EU contributed to Africa’s economic misery, due to the damaging effects of European selfish external trade policy. Nevertheless, the prevailing perspective of the EU and of its member countries concerning African immigration remains to be focused on security, the foreclosure of its external borders and prevention. Current EU programs and concepts to combat African migration are questionable. Even development orientated approaches are bound to fail, if not backed by sustainable immigration policies. |
| Keywords: | migration; West Africa; Europe; remittances; brain-drain; foreign trade policy; security; circular migration |
| JEL: | O52 O15 N44 F22 N37 F42 O55 R23 F53 N17 F35 O2 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:3360&r=mig |
| By: | David R. Howell (Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy, New York, NY) |
| Keywords: | immigration; wages; labor markets; labor supply |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epa:cepawp:2007-2&r=mig |