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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Delia Furtado (University of Connecticut); Nikolaos Theodoropoulos (University of Cyprus) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of education on intermarriage and specifically, whether the mechanisms through which education affects intermarriage differ by immigrant generation and race. We consider three main paths through which education affects marriage choice. First, educated people may be better able to adapt to different customs and cultures making them more likely to marry outside of their ethnicity. Second, because the educated are less likely to reside in ethnic enclaves, meeting potential spouses of the same ethnicity may involve higher search costs. Lastly, if spouse-searchers value similarities in education as well as ethnicity, then they may be willing to substitute similarities in education for ethnicity when evaluating spouses. Thus, the effect of education will depend on the availability of same-ethnicity potential spouses with a similar level of education. Using U.S. Census data, we find evidence for all three effects for the population in general. However, assortative matching on education seems to be relatively more important for the native born, for the foreign born that arrived at a fairly young age, and for Asians. We conclude by providing additional pieces of evidence suggestive of our hypotheses. |
| Keywords: | Ethnic intermarriage, Education, Immigration |
| JEL: | J12 I21 J61 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:0716&r=mig |
| By: | Randall Kekoa Quinones Akee (IZA); David A. Jaeger (College of William and Mary, University of Bonn, and IZA); Konstantinos Tatsiramos (IZA) |
| Abstract: | Using recently-available data from the New Immigrant Survey, we find that previous self-employment experience in an immigrant’s country of origin is an important determinant of their self-employment status in the U.S., increasing the probability of being self-employed by about 7 percent. Our results improve on the previous literature by measuring home-country self-employment directly rather than relying on proxy measures. We find little evidence to suggest that home-country selfemployment has a significant effect on U.S. wages in either paid employment or self employment. |
| Keywords: | Self-employment, entrepreneurship, New Immigrant Survey |
| JEL: | J61 J21 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:0717&r=mig |
| By: | Gabriel Romero (Universidad de Alicante) |
| Abstract: | In the brain drain literature models with heterogeneous agents typically predict that all agents who get tertiary education will try to migrate. Hence, the skill composition of the migration flow is the same as that of the skilled population left behind. This result, however, may not represent the migration pattern of some source countries. In this paper I present and analyze a model of heterogeneous agents where immigrants go through an assimilation process upon arriving to the host country. I start by studying the skill composition of the migration flow of a less advanced country. Then, I characterize conditions that lead a benevolent government to promote migration among the skilled population. I show that the government may promote skilled migration despite the fact that the brain drain decreases per capita income. |
| Keywords: | Assimilation process, brain drain, and migration pattern. |
| JEL: | F22 I28 J24 |
| Date: | 2007–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasad:2007-25&r=mig |
| By: | Jacques Poot (Population Studies Centre, University of Waikato); Lynda Sanderson (Ministry of Economic Development) |
| Abstract: | This paper is concerned with the international mobility of New Zealanders who migrate to Australia. One in ten New Zealand citizens lives in Australia and their settlement and subsequent mobility is important from demographic, socio-economic and policy perspectives in both countries. Using a unique longitudinal dataset on New Zealand citizens arriving for a stay of 12 months or longer between 1 August 1999 and 31 July 2002, we track all subsequent moves of these migrants out of and back into Australia, up to July 2005. This allows us to assess the impact of the removal of labour market-related social security eligibility and some other policy changes affecting New Zealand migrants to Australia, implemented between February and June 2001. United Kingdom migrants to Australia, who were not affected by the policy changes, provide a ‘control group’. Using hazard models, we find that the policy changes increased the probability of remigration from Australia among those who had intended to settle permanently. Competing risk models suggested no difference between the impact of the policy changes on onward or return moves. Settlers arriving after the policy changes spend less time Australia and make more trips away than earlier migrants. |
| Keywords: | International Migration, International Travel, New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom, Social Welfare, Immigration Policy, Selectivity |
| JEL: | C41 F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:0712&r=mig |
| By: | John Gibson (University of Waikato and Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Trinh Le (New Zealand Institute of Economic Research); Steven Stillman (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research) |
| Abstract: | Immigrants are typically found to have less wealth and hold it in different forms than the native born. These differences may affect both the economic assimilation of immigrants and overall portfolio allocation when immigrants are a large share of the population, as in New Zealand. In this paper, data from the 2001 Household Savings Survey are used to examine wealth differences between immigrants and the New Zealand-born. Differences in the allocation of portfolios between housing and other forms of wealth are described. Unconditional and conditional wealth quantiles are examined using parametric models. Semiparametric methods are used to decompose differences in net worth at different parts of the wealth distribution into the part due to differences in characteristics and the part due to differences in the returns to characteristics. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Portfolios, Semiparametric Decomposition, Wealth |
| JEL: | D31 G11 J15 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:0715&r=mig |
| By: | David C. Maré (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Steven Stillman (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses data from the New Zealand Census to examine how the supply of recent migrants in particular skill groups affects the geographic mobility of the New Zealand-born and earlier migrants. We identify the impact of recent migration on mobility using the ‘area-analysis’ approach, which exploits the fact that immigration is spatially concentrated, and thus a change in the local supply of migrants in a particular skill group should have an impact on the mobility of similarly skilled nonmigrants in that local labour market. Overall, our results provide little support for the hypothesis that migrant inflows displace either the NZ-born or earlier migrants with similar skills in the areas that new migrants are settling. If anything, they suggest that there are positive spillovers between recent migrants and other individuals that encourage individuals to move to or remain in the areas in which similarly skilled migrants are settling. Thus, it appears unlikely that internal mobility moderates any potential impacts of immigration on labour or housing markets in New Zealand. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Mobility, New Zealand, Labour Market Areas |
| JEL: | J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:0714&r=mig |
| By: | Basher, Syed A.; Fachin, Stefano |
| Abstract: | Migration between the Canadian provinces generally followed a declining trend over the period 1971-2004. In this paper, taking Ontario a case study, we seek to explain these patterns using recent panel cointegration methods that are robust to cross-section dependence. Estimation of heterogenous models suggests that the determinants of migration vary across provinces. Overall, unemployment differential and income in the sending province appear to be the most important ones, with income and federal transfer differentials playing only a minor role. |
| Keywords: | Internal migration; panel cointegration; bootstrap; Canada. |
| JEL: | C32 C33 R23 |
| Date: | 2008–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:6685&r=mig |
| By: | Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano (University of Bologna, FEEM and CEPR); Giovanni Peri (UC Davis and NBER) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we document a strong positive correlation of immigration flows with changes in average wages and average house rents for native residents across U.S. states. Instrumental variables estimates reveal that the correlations are compatible with a causal interpretation from immigration to wages and rents of natives. Separating the effects of immigrants on natives of different schooling levels we find positive effects on the wages and rents of highly educated and small effects on the wages (negative) and rents (positive) of less educated. We propose a model where natives and immigrants of three different education levels interact in production in a central district and live in the surrounding region. In equilibrium the inflow of immigrants has a positive productive effect on natives due to complementarieties in production as well as a positive competition effect on rents. The model calibrated and simulated with U.S.-states data matches most of the estimated effects of immigrants on wages and rents of natives in the period 1990-2005. This validation suggests the proposed model as a useful tool to evaluate the impacts of alternative immigration scenarios on U.S. wages and rents. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Wages, Rents, Housing Prices, U.S. States |
| JEL: | F22 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2007–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:0713&r=mig |
| By: | Amelie Constant; Liliya Gataullina; Klaus F. Zimmermann |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the determinants of naturalization among Turkish and ex-Yugoslav immigrants in Germany differentiating between actual and planned citizenship. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel, we measure the impact that integration and ethnicity indicators exert on the probability to naturalize beyond the standard individual and human capital characteristics. A robust finding is that German citizenship is very valuable to female immigrants and the generally better educated, but not to those educated in Germany. We find that the degree of integration in German society has a differential effect on citizenship acquisition. While a longer residence in Germany has a negative influence on actual or future naturalization, arriving at a younger age and having close German friends are strong indicators of a positive proclivity to citizenship acquisition. Likewise, ethnic origins and religion also influence these decisions. Muslim immigrants in Germany are more willing to become German citizens than non-Muslim immigrants, but there are also fewer German citizens among Muslims than among non-Muslims. |
| Keywords: | Citizenship, naturalization, ethnicity, integration |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J61 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp755&r=mig |
| By: | Adriana Sánchez Hugalde (Grup de Recerca en Federalisme Fiscal i Economia Regional (Institut d'Economia de Barcelona - IEB), Departament Economia Política i Hisenda Pública. Facultat de Ciències Econòmiques i Empresarials de la Universitat de Barcelona.) |
| Abstract: | This empirical work studies the influence of immigrant students on individuals’ school choice in one of the most populated regions in Spain: Catalonia. It has estimated, following the Poisson model, the probability that a certain school, which immigrant students are already attending, may be chosen by natives as well as by immigrants, respectively. The information provided by the Catalonia School Department presents school characteristics of all the primary and secondary schools in Catalonia during the 2001/02 and 2002/03 school years. The results obtained support the evidence that Catalonia native families avoid schools attended by immigrants. Natives certainly prefer not to interact with immigrants. Private schools are more successful in avoiding immigrants. Finally, the main reason for non-natives’ choice is the presence of other non-natives in the same school. |
| Keywords: | School choice, immigration |
| JEL: | I21 J15 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:xrp:wpaper:xreap2007-15&r=mig |