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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Aldashev, Alisher; Gernandt, Johannes; Thomsen, Stephan L. |
| Abstract: | Less than half of the people with migration background living in Germany possess foreign citizenship. Hence, using citizenship to analyze economic issues of immigration may be problematic for two reasons. On the one hand, a quite substantial share of persons with migration background is neglected in the group of interest, and, on the other hand, the reference group (native Germans) may be contaminated by effects from naturalized immigrants. This paper utilizes a wider definition covering all persons with migration background to analyze the earnings prospects. To shed light on differences to the common use of citizenship, estimates are presented in comparison to foreigner and German citizens. The results show that persons with migration background have similar earnings prospects to foreigners. Moreover, earnings prospects for native Germans do not differ much from those of German citizenship. Therefore, using citizenship to approximate natives and non- natives when analyzing earnings issues seems to be reasonable. A second question of the paper is whether degrees obtained in Germany lead to better earnings prospects compared to degrees obtained abroad for persons with migration background. Independently of gender and skill level, the estimates affirm higher earnings to educational attainment in Germany. |
| Keywords: | Migration background, earnings prospects, education, Germany |
| JEL: | I12 J15 J61 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:5690&r=mig |
| By: | Leah Platt Boustan; Price V. Fishback; Shawn E. Kantor |
| Abstract: | During the Great Depression, as in the modern era, in-migrants were accused of taking jobs and crowding relief rolls. Unlike today, the targets of protest during the Depression were typically American citizens from other parts of the country, rather than the foreign born. Using aggregate data on internal migration flows matched to individual records from the 1940 Census, we analyze the impact of internal migration on various labor market outcomes. To control for the likely endogeneity bias that would arise if migrants were attracted to areas with high wages or plentiful work opportunities, we instrument for migration flows. The instrument predicts out-migration from local areas using extreme weather events and variations in the generosity of New Deal programs and assigns these flows to destinations based on geographic distance. As in many contemporary studies of immigration, our results indicate that residents of metropolitan areas with high in-migration rates did not experience a drop in hourly earnings. Instead, longer term residents of high in-migration areas experienced three types of economic dislocation. A significant number moved away. Many of those who stayed experienced either a drop in annual weeks of work and/or reductions in access to work relief jobs. During a Depression with extraordinary unemployment and an extensive amount of job sharing, these lost work opportunities were costly to existing residents. |
| JEL: | J61 N32 R23 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13276&r=mig |