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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Delia Furtado (University of Connecticut and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Because the demographic composition of todays immigrants to the US differs so much from those of natives, immigrants may be less likely to socially integrate into U.S. society, and specically less likely to marry natives. This paper explores the relationship between immigrants' marriage patterns and the academic outcomes of their children. Using 2000 Census data, it is found that while marital decisions of foreign born females do not affect their children's academic success, foreign born males that marry foreign born females are less likely to have children that are high school dropouts. These relationships remain after using various methods to control for the endogeneity of the intermarriage decision. Although we cannot disentangle whether the benefits of same-nativity marriages for foreign born males arise from a more efficient technology in human capital production within the household or from increased participation in ethnic networks, it does appear that immigrant males have better educated children when they marry immigrant females. |
| Keywords: | Cross-Nativity Marriage, Education, Ethnic Networks .% |
| JEL: | J12 J15 Z13 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:uconnp:2007-33&r=mig |
| By: | Chen, Natalie (University of Warwick, CEPR); Conconi, Paola (Universit´e Libre de Bruxelles (ECARES) and CEPR); Perroni, Carlo (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | Household migration can affect labor market opportunities differently for the two spouses, both because of gender-specific differences between the skills of migrants and the skills that are in demand in the host country, and because of differences in the extent of gender-based labor market discrimination between the country of origin and the host country. Standard bargaining theory suggests that, if household migration leads to a comparative improvement in labor market opportunities for married women, it should be beneficial to them. We show that, if renegotiation possibilities for migrant women are limited, the opposite may be true, particularly if women are specialized in household activities and the labor market allows more flexibility in their labor supply choices. Evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel indeed shows that, holding everything else constant, improvements in relative wages for migrant women do not translate into better outcomes for them. |
| Keywords: | International Migration ; Marriage ; Renegotiation ; Gender |
| JEL: | F2 D1 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:812&r=mig |
| By: | Chen, Natalie (University of Warwick, CEPR); Conconi, Paola (Universit´e Libre de Bruxelles (ECARES) and CEPR); Perroni, Carlo (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | We examine gender differences in intergenerational patterns of social mobility for second-generation migrants. Empirical studies of social mobility have found that women are generally more mobile than men. Matching theory suggests that this may be because the importance of market characteristics (financial wealth and earning power) relative to non-market characteristics in the marriage market is lesser for women than men, and market characteristics can be intergenerationally more persistent than non-market characteristics. According to this interpretation, the mobility gender gap should be wider for second-generation migrant households, where gender roles remain more pronounced than in the non-migrant population. We explore this conjecture using data from the US General Social Survey. Our results show that daughters of first-generation migrants are intergenerationally more mobile than migrant’s sons, and more so than it is the case for non-migrants’ children. |
| Keywords: | Marriage ; Migrants ; Social Mobility |
| JEL: | D1 J2 J3 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:815&r=mig |
| By: | Gil S. Epstein (Bar-Ilan University, CReAM and IZA); Nava Kahana (Bar-Ilan University and IZA) |
| Abstract: | We present a general model of child labor that incorporates the various components presented in the literature as explanations for its existence. Our proposal is to mitigate the phenomenon by encouraging temporary emigration. It emerges that the remittances sent by the emigrating parents might enable not only their children, but also others, to stop working. We show how this equilibrium can be sustained even upon the return of the emigrant parents to their home country. |
| Keywords: | child labor, temporary emigration |
| JEL: | D62 F22 I30 J13 J20 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3025&r=mig |
| By: | Constant, Amelie; Zimmermann, Klaus F |
| Abstract: | The economic literature has largely overlooked the importance of repeat and circular migration. The paper studies this behaviour 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 labour market remain less; they are not leaving the country more frequently. |
| Keywords: | circular migration; count data; guestworkers; minorities; repeat migration |
| JEL: | C25 F22 J15 J61 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6438&r=mig |
| By: | Amelie Constant; Klaus F. Zimmermann |
| Abstract: | The paper advocates for a new measure of the ethnic identity of migrants, models its determinants and explores its explanatory power for various types of their economic performance. The ethnosizer, a measure of the intensity of a person's ethnic identity, is constructed from information on the following elements: language, culture, societal interaction, history of migration, and ethnic self-identification. A two-dimensional concept of the ethnosizer classifies migrants into four states: integration, assimilation, separation and marginalization. The ethnosizer largely depends on pre-migration characteristics. Empirical evidence studying economic behavior like work participation, earnings and housing decisions demonstrates the significant relevance of ethnic identity for economic outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Ethnicity, ethnic identity, acculturation, migrant assimilation, migrant integration, work, cultural economics |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J16 Z10 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp721&r=mig |
| By: | Jeffrey Passel |
| Abstract: | This report discusses methods of measuring unauthorized migration to the United States. The “residual method” involves comparing an analytic estimate of the legal foreign-born population with a survey-based measure of the total foreign-born population. The difference between the two population figures is a measure of the unauthorized migrant population in the survey; it can then be corrected for omissions to provide a measure of the total unauthorized population. The report includes a detailed description of the residual methods and the underlying data and assumptions as it has been applied to recent data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and decennial censuses. The paper presents new results of estimates derived from the march 2006 CPS which show that the unauthorized population in the U.S. has reached 11.5 million; of these, 6.5 million or 57% are from Mexico. The report also presents derived data on a range of social and economic characteristics of the unauthorized population developed with an extension of the residual estimates. Finally, historical data on trends in unauthorized migration and several alternative estimation methods are presented and discussed. <BR>Ce document traite de l’analyse des méthodes employées aux Etats-Unis pour mesurer les migrations irrégulières. La méthode résiduelle consiste à comparer les estimations de la population née à l’étranger et résidant légalement aux Etats-Unis avec les enquêtes visant à mesurer l’ensemble de la population née à l’étranger. La différence entre les deux catégories de population permet d’évaluer la population immigrée en situation irrégulière. Il est possible de corriger cette évaluation pour tenir compte de certaines omissions et obtenir ainsi une évaluation de la population en situation irrégulière. Le document présente de manière détaillée les méthodes résiduelles, les données et les hypothèses qui ont été utilisées en s’appuyant sur les données provenant du Current Population Survey (CFS) et des recensements décennaux de population. Sur la base des résultats du CPS 2006, la population en situation irrégulière aux Etats-Unis atteindrait 11.5 millions de personnes, dont 6.5 millions de Mexicains (soit 57 %). Le document contient aussi des informations sur les caractéristiques sociales et économiques de la population en situation irrégulière. Enfin, des séries historiques sur l’évolution des migrations irrégulières aux Etats-Unis ainsi que sur les différentes méthodes de leur estimation font l’objet d’une présentation critique. |
| JEL: | F22 J1 J61 N42 |
| Date: | 2007–09–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:57-en&r=mig |
| By: | David C. Maré (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Steven Stillman (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Melanie Morten (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research) |
| Abstract: | Twenty-three percent of New Zealand's population is foreign-born and forty percent of migrants have arrived in the past ten years. Newly arriving migrants tend to settle in spatially concentrated areas and this is especially true in New Zealand. This paper uses census data to examine the characteristics of local areas that attract new migrants and gauges the extent to which migrants are choosing to settle where there are the best labour market opportunities as opposed to where there are already established migrant networks. We estimate McFadden's choice models to examine both the initial location choice made by new migrants and the internal mobility of this cohort of migrants five years later. This allows us to examine whether the factors that affect settlement decision change as migrants spend more time in New Zealand. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Settlement, Mobility, New Zealand |
| JEL: | J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtu:wpaper:07_11&r=mig |
| By: | Shibao Guo (University of Calgary); Don J. DeVoretz (Simon Fraser University and IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the changing characteristics of Chinese immigrants to Canada between 1980 and 2001. It reveals that recent Chinese immigrants to Canada constitute a substantially different group from those of former years. They are no longer a homogeneous group from the rural areas of Guangdong Province of Mainland China, but in fact citizens of 132 countries, speaking 100 different languages and dialects. This study also reveals significant differences among Chinese subgroups. Immigrants from Hong Kong and Taiwan shared more commonalities than with those from Mainland China. Given Canada’s time dependent immigration selection procedures, these differences are rationalized on the basis of a proposed single and double selection theory. |
| Keywords: | Chinese immigration, integration, triangle theory |
| JEL: | J15 J60 J61 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3018&r=mig |
| By: | Andreas Breinbauer (wiiw) |
| Abstract: | The article provides a general introductory overview of the (spatial) mobility of highly skilled/qualified persons and discusses the different terms of the mobility of the Highly Skilled, especially those of scientists. It outlines theoretical and empirical aspects of these movements and delineates the drain of European talent to the U.S., especially the outflow of scientists and researchers who contribute considerably to the U.S. innovation system. Further, it takes a closer look at outward mobility in the former socialist countries in Europe, especially in South Eastern Europe, in the period before and after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Finally, the article outlines general policy options in dealing with the mobility of the Highly Qualified. |
| Keywords: | Brain Drain, Eu, USA, High Skill, High Skilled. Mobility, Migration |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wsr:wpaper:y:2007:i:004&r=mig |
| 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:6087&r=mig |
| By: | Cátia Batista (University of Oxford and IZA); Aitor Lacuesta (Bank of Spain); Pedro C. Vicente (University of Oxford) |
| Abstract: | Does emigration really drain human capital accumulation in origin countries? This paper explores a unique household survey purposely designed and conducted to answer this specific question for the case of Cape Verde - the African country with the largest fraction of tertiary educated population living abroad, despite also having a fast-growing stock of human capital. Unlike previous literature, our tailored survey allows us to adjust existing inflated "brain drain" numbers for educational upgrading of emigrants after migration. We do so by combining our survey data on current, return and non-migrants with information from censuses of the destination countries. Our micro data also enables us to propose a novel, explicit test of "brain gain" arguments according to which the possibility of own future emigration positively impacts educational attainment in the origin country. Crucially, the innovative empirical strategy we propose hinges on the ideal characteristics of our survey, namely on full histories of migrants and on a new set of exclusion restrictions to control for unobserved heterogeneity of emigrants. Our results point to a very substantial impact of the "brain gain" channel on the educational attainment of those left behind. Alternative channels (namely remittances, family disruption, and general equilibrium effects at the local level) are also considered, but these do not seem to play an important role. Overall, we find that there may be substantial human capital gains from allowing free migration and encouraging return migration. |
| Keywords: | brain drain, brain gain, brain circulation, international migration, human capital, effects of emigration in origin countries, household survey, Cape Verde, sub-Saharan Africa |
| JEL: | F22 J24 O15 O55 |
| Date: | 2007–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3035&r=mig |
| By: | Alex Sienaert |
| Abstract: | What drives migration and remittance behaviour in South Africa, and what are the implications for public policy? This paper evaluates existing empirical evidence, posits a simple theoretical model and undertakes a fresh evaluation using longitudinal data spanning 1993 to 2004 from KwaZula-Natal province. Findings generally accord with expectations if migration is a family income-optimising strategy, with remittances sustained by migrant altruism. The key policy-relevant result is that receipt of public transfer income raises the likelihood of migration (most likely because migration is costly and households face liquidity constraints) and hence crowds in private transfers on average. |
| Keywords: | South Africa, Migration, Remittances, Public Pensions |
| JEL: | J4 J61 H31 H55 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oxf:wpaper:351&r=mig |
| By: | Lena Giesbert (GIGA Institute of African Affairs) |
| Abstract: | Migration and remittances are widely seen as major components of diversification strategies aimed at coping with risky environments in developing countries. The debate in the literature mainly concentrates on effects of and access to the strategy of migration. Against this background, the paper investigates patterns, determinants and the impact of internal migration on households based on data from a densely populated rural area in Western Kenya. The motivation behind migration is largely economic in kind. Accordingly, remittances account for a substantial share of household incomes. Results derived from a probit model estimation indicate that the likelihood of migration is independent from the wealth position of households. Instead, demographic household factors, education-related variables and migrant networks are of central importance. Migration and remittances are obviously more easily accessible than other opportunities of income diversification beyond farming for households across all levels of wealth, including the poorest households. |
| Keywords: | Migration, remittances, income diversification, coping strategies, sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya. |
| JEL: | R23 Q12 D13 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gig:wpaper:58&r=mig |
| By: | Martine Durand; Georges Lemaître |
| Abstract: | La politique migratoire française se trouve à un tournant. Face à l’émergence d’un marché du travail mondial pour les personnes hautement qualifiées et de pénuries de main d’oeuvre dans certains secteurs de l’économie, la France doit s’orienter vers une plus grande diversification de ses flux migratoires, à la fois quant aux catégories d’entrées, aux régions d’origine et au type de migration, tout en continuant de lutter contre l’immigration irrégulière et l’emploi illégal d’étrangers. Cela demandera un savant dosage entre des entrées de migrants sélectionnés et non sélectionnés, de migrants temporaires et permanents et de migrants hautement et faiblement qualifiés et, d’une façon plus générale, entre ouverture et contrôle. Pour réussir, la France devra coopérer activement et efficacement à la fois avec ses partenaires européens et les pays d’origine. Mais si la France veut rester une terre d’accueil, elle devra aussi impérativement mieux intégrer les immigrés et leurs enfants. <BR>French migration policy is at a crossroads. In the face of an emerging global labour market for highly qualified persons and of labour shortages in certain economic sectors, France must aim for a greater diversification of its migration flows, with respect to entry categories, regions of origin and type of migration, at the same time as it continues to combat irregular migration and the illegal employment of foreign nationals. This will require getting the right mix of selected and non-selected migrants, of temporary and permanent migrants, of high-skilled and low-skilled, and more generally of openness and control. To succeed, France must co-operate actively and effectively with both its European partners and countries of origin. But if France is to remain a land of welcome, it must also necessarily better integrate immigrants and their offspring. |
| JEL: | F22 J23 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2007–09–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:56-fr&r=mig |