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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Amelie Constant (Georgetown University, DIW DC and IZA); Klaus F. Zimmermann (University of Bonn, IZA and DIW Berlin) |
| Abstract: | The economic literature has largely overlooked the importance of repeat and circular migration. The paper studies this behavior by analyzing the number of exits and the total number of years away from the host country using count data models and panel data from Germany. More than 60% of migrants from the guestworker countries are indeed repeat or circular migrants. Migrants from European Union member countries, those not owning a dwelling in Germany, the younger and the older (excluding the middle ages), are significantly more likely to engage in repeat migration and to stay out for longer. Males and those migrants with German passports exit more frequently, while those with higher education exit less; there are no differences with time spent out. Migrants with family in the home country remain out longer, and those closely attached to the labor market remain less; they are not leaving the country more frequently. |
| Keywords: | repeat migration, circular migration, guestworkers, minorities, count data |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J61 C25 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2999&r=mig |
| By: | Pia R. Pinger |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the determinants of temporary and permanent migration and the impact of the return decision on remittances patterns. Using a new detailed household dataset on migration in the Republic of Moldova, it is shown that return is determined by the economic conditions at home and abroad as well as by the legal status in the host country. Especially economic frustration turns out to be an im- portant push factor for permanent migration. Besides, family ties play an important role, as do respective migrant networks. Concerning remittances, the results indicate that temporary migrants remit around 30% more than their permanent counterparts even though they often reside in lower wage countries. Overall, the ¯ndings indicate that temporary migration is relatively more favorable for developing countries as it fosters higher remittances, repatriation of skills and home savings. |
| Keywords: | Permanent Migration, Temporary Migration, Remittances, Economic Development |
| JEL: | F22 F24 O15 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieasw:438&r=mig |
| By: | Robert Poppe |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of temporary and permanent migration on household expenditures and on asset/durables ownership. Using household survey data from Moldova, this paper relies on the matching approach for identification. It is shown that temporary migrant households have additional expenditures for food compared to non-migrant households. Further, non-migrant and temporary migrant households have higher expenditures for the repayment of loans than permanent migrant households. Concerning the ownership of goods or assets in 2006 compared to the regional crisis in 1998, temporary migrant households are more likely to own more assets or goods than non-migrant households. Overall, the findings indicate that temporary migration has a stronger effect on household expenditures than permanent migration. |
| Keywords: | Expenditures, Remittances, Migration, Matching |
| JEL: | O16 G15 G21 |
| Date: | 2007–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieasw:444&r=mig |
| By: | Barry R. Chiswick (University of Illinois at Chicago and IZA); Paul W. Miller (University of Western Australia and IZA) |
| Abstract: | One in nine people between the ages of 18 and 64 in the US, and every second foreign-born person in this age bracket, speaks Spanish at home. And whereas around 80 percent of adult immigrants in the US from non-English speaking countries other than Mexico are proficient in English, only about 50 percent of adult immigrants from Mexico are proficient. The use of a language other than English at home, and proficiency in English, are both analyzed in this paper using economic models and data from the 2000 US Census. The results demonstrate the importance of immigrants’ educational attainment, their age at migration and years spent in the US to their language skills. The immigrants’ mother tongue is also shown to affect their English proficiency; immigrants with a mother tongue more distant from English being less likely to be proficient. Finally, immigrants living in ethnic enclaves have lesser proficiency in English than immigrants who live in predominately English-speaking areas of the US. The results for females are generally very similar to those for males, the findings from an ordered probit approach to estimation are similar to the findings from a binary probit model, and the conclusions drawn from the analyses mirror those in studies based on the 1980 and 1990 US Censuses. Thus, the model of language skills presented appears to be remarkably robust across time and between the genders. |
| Keywords: | immigrants, language, enclaves, human capital |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J24 J40 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2974&r=mig |
| By: | Barry R. Chiswick (University of Illinois at Chicago and IZA); Sarinda Taengnoi (Western New England College) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the impact of English language proficiency and country of origin on the occupational choice of high-skilled immigrants in the U.S. using the 2000 Census. The findings reveal that high-skilled immigrants with limited proficiency in English, or whose mother tongue is linguistically distant from English, are more likely to be in occupations in which English communication skills are not very important, such as computer and engineering occupations. Moreover, the degree of exposure to English prior to immigration is found to have little influence on selecting occupations in the U.S. The paper also shows that immigrants from some origins with little exposure to English and whose native language is far from English tend to be in some "speaking-intensive" occupations, in particular social services occupations. These occupations may not require workers to be fluent in English if they mostly provide services to immigrants from their same linguistic background. |
| Keywords: | immigrants, English proficiency, occupation, high-skilled workers |
| JEL: | J15 J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2969&r=mig |
| By: | Mathias Sinning (RWI Essen and IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the determinants of migrants' financial transfers to their home country using German data. A double-hurdle model is applied to analyze the determinants of the propensity to send transfers abroad and the amount of transfers. The findings reveal that return intentions positively affect financial transfers of immigrants to their home country. Moreover, while the effect of the household size on migrants' transfers abroad turns out to be significantly negative, remittances are higher if close relatives live in the sending country. Finally, Vuong-tests indicate that the double-hurdle model is the correct specification for the analysis of migrants' savings and remittances rather than the conventional Tobit model usually applied in the literature. |
| Keywords: | international migration, savings, remittances, double-hurdle model |
| JEL: | F22 C34 D12 D91 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2966&r=mig |
| By: | N. CHUSSEAU; M. DUMONT; J. HELLIER; G. RAYP; P. WILLEMÉ |
| Abstract: | We analyse the immigration flows to Western Europe in the sixties. We develop a theoretical model tailored to account for some of the key features of this period, i.e., trade in manufacturing that essentially involved advanced countries, the growing administration of labour markets in Western Europe and the huge inflow of low skilled immigrants from the South (less advanced countries) into Western Europe. Two propositions are subsequently derived from this model. First, the immigration flow increases with the skill premium in the country of destination. Second, for a given skill premium, immigration is an increasing function of both the host country’s working population and its relative endowment in skilled labour. The first proposition reflects a demand side effect that diverges from the result of the traditional self-selecting approach to migration, i.e., that a higher skill premium in the country of destination tends to discourage potential low-skilled migrants. Estimations implemented for a panel of four European countries (Belgium, France, Sweden and West Germany) over the period 1960-1975 corroborate to a large extent our propositions. We also find that none of the supply determinants are individually significant at equilibrium. These results confirm the hypothesis that immigration to Western Europe in the sixties was primarily demand driven. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, International Division of Labour, Wage Inequality |
| JEL: | F22 J31 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:07/471&r=mig |
| By: | Jan Brenner |
| Abstract: | We analyze the impact of job entry restrictions on the economic integration of recent ethnic German immigrants, using twelve waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel.The German labor market closely ties job accessibility to vocational education which likely hampers the transferability of foreign human capital. To assess this effect, we compare the job mismatch probabilities of ethnic German immigrants and German natives and the employment probability in jobs that vary by the qualifications they require. Our results suggest that ethnic Germans are disadvantaged upon arrival, yet almost completely assimilate to comparable natives considering these two job quality measures. Furthermore, controlling for these factors explains a considerable share of the earnings gap between ethnic and native Germans. |
| Keywords: | Human capital transferability and investment, job mismatch, skill requirements, immigrants, wage assimilation |
| JEL: | F22 J61 J62 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0025&r=mig |
| By: | Leilanie Basilio (Ruhr Graduate School in Economics); Thomas K. Bauer (RWI Essen, Ruhr-University Bochum and IZA); Mathias Sinning (RWI Essen and IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes whether immigrant families facing credit constraints adopt a family investment strategy wherein, upon arrival, an immigrant spouse invests in host countryspecific human capital while the other partner works to finance the family's current consumption. Using data for West Germany, we do not find evidence for such a specialization strategy. We further examine the labor supply and wage assimilation of families whose members immigrated together relative to families whose members immigrated sequentially. Our estimates indicate that this differentiation is relevant for the analysis of the labor market activities of migrant households. |
| Keywords: | international migration, assimilation, family investment hypothesis |
| JEL: | D10 F22 J22 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2989&r=mig |
| By: | Douglas J. Krupka (IZA) |
| Abstract: | The role of amenities in the flow of migrants has been debated for some years. This paper advances an original model of amenities that work through household production instead of directly through the utility function. Area characteristics (amenities) affect household production, causing certain kinds of human capital investments to be rewarded more than others. Area heterogeneity makes such investments location-specific, in that some areas’ characteristics will reward certain kinds of knowledge more than others. This specificity - along with a period of exogenous location (before migration can be carried out) - increases the opportunity costs of moving, diminishes migration flows between dissimilar locations and increases valuation of amenities which were present in the originating area. These theoretical results emphasize people’s sorting across areas and thus differ from the results of the standard model of compensating differentials. Empirical tests of the model’s predictions using NLSY79 data show that childhood investments affect migration flows in the way proposed by the model. |
| Keywords: | migration, amenities, human capital, location specificity |
| JEL: | R23 J61 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2987&r=mig |
| By: | Jan Brenner |
| Abstract: | The existing literature on attitudes towards immigration has not accounted for the potential effect of unobservable home education on attitude formation. Yet, factors such as parents’ knowledge, their morals, and their weltanschauung are likely to influence the attitudes of the next generation.Their omission from the analysis thus threatens to lead to erroneous conclusions. Utilizing siblings data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) this paper analyzes the determinants of worries about immigration controlling for unobserved family specific effects.Our results suggest that benchmark models used in the literature yield inconsistent estimates of the main determinants of attitudes towards immigration. |
| Keywords: | Subjective data, siblings data, unobserved effects, minorities |
| JEL: | C51 F22 J15 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0022&r=mig |
| By: | Elizabeth Oltmans Ananat |
| Abstract: | At the metropolitan level there is a striking negative correlation between residential racial segregation and population characteristics -- particularly for black residents -- but it is widely recognized that this correlation may not be causal. This paper provides a novel test of the causal relationship between segregation and population outcomes by exploiting the arrangements of railroad tracks in the 19th century to isolate plausibly exogenous variation in cities' susceptibility to segregation. I show that, conditional on miles of railroad track laid, the extent to which track configurations physically subdivided cities strongly predicts the level of segregation that ensued after the Great Migration of African-Americans to northern and western cities in the 20th century. At the start of the Great Migration, though, track configurations were uncorrelated with racial concentration, ethnic dispersion, income, industry, education, and population, indicating that reverse causality is unlikely. Instrumental variables estimates demonstrate that segregation leads to lower incomes and lower education among blacks. For whites, there is a mix of positive and negative effects: segregation decreases the probability of being a college graduate or a high earner, but also decreases the probability of being poor or unemployed. Segregation could generate these effects either by affecting human capital acquisition of residents of different races and socio-economic groups ('production') or by inducing sorting by race and SES into different cities ('selection'). This paper provides evidence that is most consistent with a combination of both production and selection. |
| JEL: | I0 J15 J61 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13343&r=mig |
| By: | Pieter Bevelander (MIM, IMER, Malmö University and IZA); Jonas Otterbeck (IMER, Malmö University) |
| Abstract: | Since the 1950’s, the Muslim population in Sweden has grown from just a few individuals to approximately 350,000 of which one third is of school age or younger. With the use of multiple regression technique, the principal objective of this study has been to clarify and examine young people’s attitudes towards Muslims, and the relationships between these attitudes and a large number of background factors. The material employed in the analysis comprises a representative sample of 9,498 non-Muslim youths (4,680 girls and 4,818 boys) between 15-19 years of age. The main results of the study show that when controlling for several background variables simultaneously, many variables affect the attitude towards Muslims. The country of birth, socio-economic background and school/program factors are found to have an effect on the attitude towards Muslims. Moreover, especially sociopsychological factors, the relationship to friends and the perceptions of gender role patterns are found to be important. In addition, local/regional factors like high levels of unemployment, high shares of immigrants in a local environment also have an effect on the attitude towards Muslims. No differences in the attitude of boys and girls were measured. The article gives some support for the contact hypothesis and hypotheses on different kinds of social dominance. Finally, the influence of negative discourses on Islam and Muslims are discussed. |
| Keywords: | attitudes, Muslims, young people, religion |
| JEL: | Z12 F22 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2977&r=mig |
| By: | Rubin, Raphael |
| Abstract: | Let us follow Romer’s framework (1990) for the intermediate goods sector. We assume the following. A North operated multinational firm is implanted in the North and the South. The North designs and makes the higher quality products. In the South, its manufacturing divisions produce intermediate and final goods of lower quality competing against the South locals. The multinational is constrained by the South government to transfer a certain amount of knowhow Hns and technology xns. It also benefits from the large pool of cheaper labor, and leads the efforts of innovation in the South. Final goods and intermediate goods are tradable, although some restrictions may apply on the part which is technologically advanced. The countries, independently of the multinational and of its South competitor, still produce non tradable goods, to which quality rankings do not apply, because they depend on local taste. The workers in the North and the South thereby benefit from both types of goods, tradable and non tradable. Competitors in the South reverse-engineer the goods produced in the South and compete with the North on the final goods market which may be tariff protected, selling back to the North operated multinational firm, or on the intermediate goods market in the South. To the difference of Currie et al (1999, 1996), but similarly to our first model’s assumption that the rate of absorption of the North’s human capital is endogenous to the importance of foreign capital investment, the present model inspired by Ahmid Datta’s model illustrates the mechanism of endogenous absorption through reverse-engineering of foreign designed goods. Conclusions of the original Ahmid Datta’s 2005 model were that a threshold of accumulated human capital knowledge must exists, before the local human capital and imported technology become substitutes from being complements. We clearly reach to the same conclusion here. This finding is consistent with the role given to human capital by Keller 1996. We here strive to demonstrate our first model hypothesis by analyzing: The effect of the multinational’s decision of foreign investment on the threshold (imitation to innovation state). 6 The effect of international migration of qualified workers on the threshold. The effect of Northern consumer’s bias for local made products, on the threshold. How does the constraint imposed on the multinational to transfer technology and know-how, translate on its profits, on its market share in the South? |
| Keywords: | North; South; Grossman; Helpman; Labor; Migration; Bias; Innovation |
| JEL: | O33 O34 O3 O31 |
| Date: | 2007–08–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:4602&r=mig |