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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | James Ted McDonald; M. Rebecca Valenzuela |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the issue of skill mismatch among immigrants and its impact on their remittance behaviour using cross-sectional data from two linked surveys in the Philippines: the Survey on Overseas Filipinos (SOF) and the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) for the years 1997, 2000, and 2003. Our main hypothesis is that skills mismatch - broadly defined here as the over-qualification of migrants in terms of educational attainment relative to occupation in their destination country - is prevalent among skilled migrants and exerts a downward pressure on the level of international remittances received by the sending economies. Accordingly, a high incidence of skill mismatch implies that the remittances expatriated would be significantly less compared to conditions of no skills mismatch. We find evidence of substantial skill mismatch, particularly among highly educated women, but there is also systematic variation in the incidence of skill mismatch by family characteristics and host country. In terms of remittances, we find that for women, higher education levels are associated with lower incidence of remittances but larger amounts remitted. However, negative skill mismatch leads to men and women both being more likely to remit money, but for women the amount is significantly less than it otherwise would have been. |
| Keywords: | remittances, immigrants, education mismatch |
| JEL: | J24 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:sedapp:242&r=mig |
| By: | Goel, Deepti; Lang, Kevin |
| Abstract: | We show that among workers whose network is weaker than formal (nonnetwork) channels, those finding a job through the network should have higher wages than those finding a job through formal channels. Moreover, this wage differential is decreasing in network strength. We test these implications using a survey of recent immigrants into Canada. At least at the lower end of an individual’s wage distribution above his reservation wage, finding a network job is associated with higher wages for those with weak networks, and the interaction between network strength and finding a job through the network is negative as predicted. |
| Keywords: | Immigrants, Job Search, Social Networks, Strong Ties |
| JEL: | J61 J64 J30 |
| Date: | 2009–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2009-12&r=mig |
| By: | Andreas Georgiadis; Alan Manning |
| Abstract: | There is widespread concern currently that some ethnic minority communities within Britain,especially Muslim, are not following the stereotypical immigrant path of economic andcultural assimilation into British society. Indeed, many seem to have the impression thatdifferences between Muslims and non-Muslims are widening. In this paper we compare thetwo largest Muslim communities in Britain (Pakistanis and Bangladeshis) with other ethnicminorities to ask the questions 'are Muslims different?' and 'is their behaviour changing overtime?' The indicators we look at are the gender gap in education, age at marriage,cohabitation and inter-marriage, fertility and the employment of women. In all thesedimensions we find that the Muslim communities are different but we also find evidence ofchange. This is partly because those born in Britain generally have markedly differentbehaviours from those born in the country of origin, but also because there is change withinboth the UK-born and foreign-born communities. The evidence suggests there is, alongalmost all dimensions, a movement towards convergence in behaviour. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, assimilation |
| JEL: | J15 J61 F22 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0903&r=mig |
| By: | Deborah Nusche |
| Abstract: | Education plays an essential role in preparing the children of immigrants for participation in the labour market and society. Giving these children opportunities to fully develop their potential is vital for future economic growth and social cohesion in OECD countries. But migrant students in most OECD countries tend to have lower education outcomes than their native peers. Extensive previous research has described the system level, school level and individual level factors that influence the education outcomes of migrant students. Building on such previous research, this paper looks at the ways in which education policies can influence these factors to help provide better educational opportunities for migrant students.<BR>L’éducation joue un rôle crucial dans la préparation des enfants d’immigrants au monde du travail et à la vie sociale. Donner à ces enfants l’opportunité de développer pleinement leur potentiel est une nécessité pour assurer la croissance économique future et la cohésion sociale dans les pays de l’OCDE. Cependant, les résultats scolaires des étudiants migrants sont en moyenne plus faibles que ceux des natifs dans la plupart des pays de l’OCDE. De nombreux travaux de recherche ont décrit les facteurs influençant la performance des migrants, au niveau du système d’éducation dans son ensemble, comme au niveau de chaque école et de chaque individu en particulier. En s’appuyant sur les résultats de la recherche existante, ce papier étudie comment les politiques d’éducation peuvent à leur tour influencer ces facteurs, afin de donner aux étudiants migrants les meilleures opportunités. |
| Date: | 2009–02–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduaab:22-en&r=mig |
| By: | Kirdar, Murat |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how immigrants' migration duration and saving decisions in the host country respond to changes in purchasing power parity (ppp) as well as in the wage ratio between the host and source countries. For this purpose, I develop a model of immigrants' joint migration duration and saving decisions and derive comparative static results regarding the impact of ppp and wage ratio on these decisions. An interesting implication of the theoretical model is that immigrants may in fact stay longer in the host country as a result of an increase in ppp, in particular those with a low degree of relative risk aversion. I test the implications of this model using a longitudinal data set that includes immigrants from four different source countries in Germany and employing panel data estimation methods. The empirical results reveal that an increase in ppp decreases the optimal migration duration. Moreover, optimal migration duration is elastic with respect to ppp. An interesting empirical finding is that, holding individual immigrant characteristics constant, immigrants from poorer source countries have a shorter migration duration than immigrants from wealthier source countries. The empirical results also reveal that ppp has a positive effect on saving rate, which is consistent with the implications of the model, and that saving rate is also elastic with respect to ppp. |
| Keywords: | International Migration; Immigrant Workers |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:13322&r=mig |
| By: | Toman Omar Mahmoud; Christoph Trebesch |
| Abstract: | Human trafficking is a humanitarian problem of global scale, but quantitative research on the issue barely exists. This paper is a first attempt to explore the economic drivers of human trafficking and migrant exploitation using micro data. We argue that migration pressure combined with informal migration patterns and incomplete information are the key determinants of human trafficking. To test our argument, we use a unique new dataset of 5513 households from Belarus, Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine. The main result is in line with our expectations: Migrant families in high migration areas and with larger migrant networks are much more likely to have a trafficked victim among their members. Our results also indicate that illegal migration increases trafficking risks and that awareness campaigns and a reduction of information asymmetries might be an effective strategy to reduce the crime |
| Keywords: | Human Trafficking, Migrant Exploitation, Illegal Migration, Migration Networks, Eastern Europe |
| JEL: | F22 J61 K42 O17 |
| Date: | 2009–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1480&r=mig |
| By: | Aldashev, Alisher; Gernandt, Johannes; Thomsen, Stephan L. |
| Abstract: | Immigrants consist of foreigners and citizens with migration background. We analyze the wage gap between natives and these two groups in Germany. The estimates show a substantial gap for both groups with respect to natives. Discarding immigrants who completed education abroad reduces much of the immigrants’ wage gap. This implies educational attainment in Germany is an important component of economic integration and degrees obtained abroad are valued less. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, wage gap, decomposition, Germany |
| JEL: | J15 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7431&r=mig |
| By: | Luca Marchiori (IRES, Université catholique de Louvain); Patrice Pieretti (CREA, Université du Luxembourg); Benteng Zou (CREA, Université du Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | How do high and low skilled migration affect fertility and human capital in migrants’ origin countries? This question is analyzed within an overlapping generations model where parents choose the number of high and low skilled children they would like to have. Individuals migrate with a certain probability and remit to their parents. It is shown that a brain drain induces parents to have more high and less low educated children. Under certain conditions fertility may either rise or decline due to a brain drain. Low skilled emigration leads to reversed results, while the overall impact on human capital of either type of migration remains ambiguous. Subsequently, the model is calibrated on a developing economy. It is found that increased high skilled emigration reduces fertility and fosters human capital accumulation, while low skilled emigration induces higher population growth and a lower level of education. |
| Keywords: | Skilled emigration, remittances, fertility, human capital |
| JEL: | F22 F24 J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bie:wpaper:408&r=mig |
| By: | Luca Marchiori (IRES, Université catholique de Louvain); Patrice Pieretti (CREA, Université du Luxembourg); Benteng Zou (CREA, Université du Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | How do high and low skilled migration affect fertility and human capital in migrants’ origin countries? This question is analyzed within an overlapping generations model where parents choose the number of high and low skilled children they would like to have. Individuals migrate with a certain probability and remit to their parents. It is shown that a brain drain induces parents to have more high and less low educated children. Under certain conditions fertility may either rise or decline due to a brain drain. Low skilled emigration leads to reversed results, while the overall impact on human capital of either type of migration remains ambiguous. Subsequently, the model is calibrated on a developing economy. It is found that increased high skilled emigration reduces fertility and fosters human capital accumulation, while low skilled emigration induces higher population growth and a lower level of education. |
| Keywords: | migration, human capital, fertility |
| JEL: | F22 J13 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bie:wpaper:409&r=mig |
| By: | Dessus, Sebastien (The World Bank); Nahas, Charbel (The World Bank) |
| Abstract: | With growing international skilled labor mobility, education and migration decisions have become increasingly inter-related, and potentially have a large impact on the growth trajectories of source countries, through their effects on labor supply, savings, or the cost of education. The authors develop a generic dynamic general equilibrium model to analyze the education-migration nexus in a consistent framework. They use the model as a laboratory to test empirical conditions for the existence of net brain gain, that is, greater domestic accumulation of human capital (in per capita terms) with greater migration of skilled workers. The results suggest that although some structural parameters can favor simultaneously greater human capital accumulation and greater skilled migration --such as high ratio of remittances over domestic incomes, high dependency ratios in migrant households, low dependency ratios in source countries, increasing returns to scale in the education sector, technological transfers and export market access with Diasporas, and efficient financial markets -- this does not necessarily mean that greater migration encourages the constitution of greater stocks of human capital in source countries. |
| Keywords: | Migration; Education; Brain Gain; Brain Drain; General Equilibrium Models |
| JEL: | C68 P36 R23 |
| Date: | 2008–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4775&r=mig |
| By: | Murtin, Fabrice (Stanford University); Viarengo, Martina (CEP, London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper derives original series of average years of schooling in the United States 1870-1930, which take into account the impact of mass migrations on the US educational level. We reconstruct the foreign-born US population by age and by country of origin, while combining data on the flow of migrants by country and the age pyramids of migrants by country. Then we use original data on educational attainment in the nineteenth century presented in Morrisson and Murtin (2008) in order to estimate the educational level of US immigrants by age and by country. As a result, our series are consistent with the first national estimates of average schooling in 1940. We show that mass migrations have had a significant but modest impact on the US average educational attainment. However, the educational gap between US natives and immigrants was large and increased with the second immigration wave, a phenomenon that most likely fostered the implementation of restrictive immigration rules in the 1920s. |
| Keywords: | economic history, migrations, education, economic development research |
| JEL: | I2 J24 N70 O1 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3964&r=mig |
| By: | Docquier, Frederic (Catholic University of Louvain); Schiff, Maurice (The World Bank) |
| Abstract: | Recent changes in information and communication technologies have contributed to a dramatic increase in the degree of integration and interdependency of countries, markets, and people. Against this background, one aspect of particular concern for small states is the international movement of people. This paper focuses on this particularly important aspect of globalization, with emphasis on the movement of skilled people and its relationship with country size. In addition to overall skilled migration, it provides evidence that controls for migration age in order to distinguish between those educated in the home country and those educated abroad. The authors discuss the growth implications of the brain drain from small countries and policies that may help control it. |
| Keywords: | age structure; aliens; average emigration; average migration; brain; brain drain; brain gain; Census Bureau; Census data; citizen; citizens; citizenship; communication technologies; |
| Date: | 2009–02–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4827&r=mig |
| By: | Stefano STAFFOLANI (Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Economia); Enzo VALENTINI ([n.a.]) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses theoretically and empirically the effects of immigration;on the wage rate of native workers. Empirical literature rarely finds that immigration generates a fall in the wages of manual workers. The theoretical model presented in this paper justifies those results, by hypothesizing an economic system where advanced firms buy an intermediate good from traditional firms, which employ manual workers in both clean and dirty tasks, the latter being more disliked by native workers. We conclude that native skilled wages always increase whereas native unskilled wages can both increase or decrease with immigration. An empirical analysis of the Italian labour market follows, showing that all native workers' wages rise with immigration. |
| Keywords: | Migrations, Wage Equation |
| JEL: | J31 J61 J82 |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wpaper:330&r=mig |
| By: | Beegle, Kathleen (The World Bank); De Weerdt, Joachim (EDI); Dercon, Stefan (Oxford University) |
| Abstract: | This study explores the extent to which migration has contributed to improved living standards of individuals in Tanzania. Using longitudinal data on individuals, the authors estimate the impact of migration on consumption growth between 1991 and 2004. The analysis addresses concerns about heterogeneity and unobservable factors correlated with both income changes and the decision to migrate. The findings show that migration adds 36 percentage points to consumption growth, during a period of considerable growth in consumption. These results are robust to numerous tests and alternative specifications. Unpacking the findings, the analysis finds that moving out of agriculture is correlated with much higher growth than staying in agriculture, although growth is always higher in any sector if one physically moves. Economic mobility is strongly linked to geographic mobility. The puzzle is why more people do not move if returns to geographic mobility are high. The evidence is consistent with models in which exit barriers are set by home communities (through social and family norms) that prevent migration of certain categories of people. |
| Keywords: | adult mortality; agricultural activities; agricultural produce; AIDS epidemic; basic needs; Business Ownership; Change in Consumption; consumption aggregate; consumption data; consumption expenditure |
| Date: | 2008–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4798&r=mig |
| By: | Arai, Mahmood (Stockholm University Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies - SULCIS); Karlsson, Jonas (Stockholm University Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies - SULCIS); Lundholm, Michael (Department of Economics, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | This study is a replication of "Are Muslim Immigrants Different in terms of Cultural Integration?" by Alberto Bisin, Eleonora Patacchini, Thierry Verdier and Yves Zenou, published in Journal of European Economic Association, 6, 445-456, 2008. Bisin et al. (2008) report that they have 5963 observations in their study. Using their empirical setup, we can only identify 1901 relevant observations in the original data. After removing missing values we are left with 818 observations. We cannot replicate any of their results and our estimations yield no support for their claims. |
| Keywords: | religious identity; assimilation; Muslims; replication study; Reproducible research |
| JEL: | A14 J15 |
| Date: | 2009–01–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sulcis:2009_001&r=mig |
| By: | Schiff, Maurice (The World Bank); Wang, Yanling (Carleton Universit) |
| Abstract: | The economies of small developing states tend to be more fragile than those of large ones. This paper examines this issue in a dynamic context by focusing on the impact of the brain drain on North-South trade-related technology diffusion and total factor productivity growth in small and large states in the South. There are three main findings. First, productivity growth increases with North-South trade-related technology diffusion and education and the interaction between the two, and decreases with the brain drain. Second, the impact of North-South trade-related technology diffusion, education, and their interaction on productivity growth in small states is more than three times that for large countries, with the negative impact of the brain drain thus more than three times greater in small than in large states. And third, the greater loss in productivity growth in small states has two brain drain-related causes: a substantially greater sensitivity of productivity growth to the brain drain, and brain drain levels that are more than five times greater in small than in large states. |
| Keywords: | brain drain; technology diffusion; trade; productivity growth |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2009–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4828&r=mig |