nep-mig New Economics Papers
on Economics of Human Migration
Issue of 2009‒05‒09
seven papers chosen by
Yuji Tamura
Australian National University

  1. Immigrant wages in the Spanish labour market: does the origin of human capital matter? By Esteban Sanromá; Raúl Ramos; Hipólito Simón
  2. Empowerment through Entrepreneurship - A Tool for Integration among Immigrant Women? By Abbasian, Saeid; Bildt, Carina
  3. ‘How are you doing in your grandpa’s country?’ Labour market performance of Latin American immigrants in Spain. By Antón, José Ignacio; Carrera, Miguel; Muñoz de Bustillo, Rafael
  4. EU Enlargement: Migration flows from Central and Eastern Europe into the Nordic countries - exploiting a natural experiment By Pedersen, Peder J.; Pytlikowa, Mariola
  5. Does Immigration Boost Per Capita Income? By Felbermayr, Gabriel J.; Hiller, Sanne; Sala, Davide
  6. Collinearity in growth regressions: The example of worker remittances By Ziesemer, Thomas
  7. De la España que emigra a la España que acoge: contexto, dimensión y características de la inmigración latinoamericana en España By Muñoz de Bustillo, Rafael; Antón, José-Ignacio

  1. By: Esteban Sanromá (Universitat de Barcelona); Raúl Ramos (Universitat de Barcelona); Hipólito Simón (Universitat de Alicante)
    Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyse the role played by the different components of human capital in the wage determination of recent immigrants within the Spanish labour market. Using microdata from the Encuesta Nacional de Inmigrantes 2007, the paper examines returns to human capital of immigrants, distinguishing between human capital accumulated in their home countries and in Spain. It also examines the impact on wages of the legal status. The evidence shows that returns to host country sources of human capital are higher than returns to foreign human capital, reflecting the limited international transferability of the latter. The only exception occurs in the case of immigrants from developed countries and immigrants who have studied in Spain. Whatever their home country, they obtain relatively high wage returns to education, including the part not acquired in the host country. Having legal status in Spain is associated with a substantial wage premium of around 15%. Lastly, the overall evidence confirms the presence of a strong heterogeneity in wage returns to different kinds of human capital and in the wage premium associated to the legal status as a function of the immigrants’ area of origin.
    Keywords: Fiscal immigration, wages, human capital.
    JEL: J15 J24 J31 J61
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2009/5/doc2009-8&r=mig
  2. By: Abbasian, Saeid (Jönköping International Business School); Bildt, Carina (Gotland University)
    Abstract: The study investigates whether entrepreneurship among immigrant women in Sweden may be a way to achieve integration in working life and thereby increase their empowerment. Sixteen female entrepreneurs were interviewed. They started their businesses for a number of reasons: unemployment, lack of suitable jobs and career possibilities, discrimination and forced privatization, desire for personal development, independence and freedom, or work within one’s own field of interest. We conclude that entrepreneurship can be a tool for increasing empowerment among educated immigrant women.
    Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Immigrant women; Empowerment; Integration
    JEL: J10 J20 J70
    Date: 2009–03–27
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:hjiseg:0006&r=mig
  3. By: Antón, José Ignacio; Carrera, Miguel; Muñoz de Bustillo, Rafael
    Abstract: This paper analyses wage differentials between local and foreign workers from Latin America and the Caribbean in Spain, which was traditionally a country of emigrants, being precisely Hispanic America the main host region of Spanish migrants during the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition, we also compute earnings. The paper exploits the Earnings Structure Survey 2006, which is the first nationally representative sample of both foreign and Spanish employees. Using the Machado-Mata econometric procedure, wage differentials between locals and foreigners are decomposed into the gap related to characteristics and the one due to different returns on endowments (i.e., discrimination). First, we find that, in absolute terms, the latter component grows across wage distribution, reflecting the existence of a kind of glass ceiling. Second, there seem not to be significant wage gap between Latin American and the last of foreign employees, probably because non-native workers are employed in low-skill jobs.
    Keywords: Immigration; Wage differentials; Latin America; Spain; Quantile regression.
    JEL: F22 J71
    Date: 2009–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:15051&r=mig
  4. By: Pedersen, Peder J. (Department of Economics); Pytlikowa, Mariola (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business)
    Abstract: In this paper we look at migration flows from 10 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) to 5 Nordic countries over the years 1985 – 2007. We exploit a natural experiment that arose from the fact that while Sweden opened its labour market from the day one of the 2004 EU enlargement, and Finland and Iceland from year 2006, the other Nordic countries chose a transition period in relation to the “new” EU members. The results based on a differences-in-differences estimator show that the estimated effect of the opening of the Swedish, Finnish and Icelandic labour markets on migration from the CEECs that entered the EU in 2004 is not significantly different from zero. However, the effect of the opening of the Swedish and Finnish labour markets in 2007 on migration from the 2007 EU entrants, Bulgaria and Romania, is significantly positive. Further, we are interested in the overall effect of the “EU entry” on migration. Therefore we look at migration flows from CEECs during the first round of EU enlargement towards the East in 2004 and compare them with migration flows from Bulgaria and Romania. The estimated effect from our D-in-D analyses is positive and significant in all model specifications.
    Keywords: International migration; EU enlargement
    JEL: F22 J61 O15
    Date: 2008–12–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2008_029&r=mig
  5. By: Felbermayr, Gabriel J. (Department of Economics); Hiller, Sanne (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business); Sala, Davide (Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business)
    Abstract: Using a cross-section of countries, we adapt Frankel and Romer's (1999) IV strategy to international labor mobility. Controlling for institutional quality, trade, and nancial openness, we establish a robust and non-negative causal eect of immigration on real percapita income.
    Keywords: Gravity model; International trade; International migration; Cross-country income regression
    JEL: F12 F22
    Date: 2008–10–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:aareco:2008_023&r=mig
  6. By: Ziesemer, Thomas (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University)
    Abstract: The sign of worker remittances in growth regressions is heavily disputed in the literature. Comparing two growth regressions with different signs for the remittance variable we show that collinearity with the lagged dependent variable might indicate that collinearity should be investigated comprehensively and might lead to a change in specifications which differ in the variance inflation factors (VIF). In our case the variance inflation factor for remittances depends on the use of a five or one-year lag of the lagged dependent. In the regression with a VIF below ten, the standard critical value, the sign of remittances is positive.
    Keywords: Growth, Remittances
    JEL: F24 O11 O15 O40
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2009020&r=mig
  7. By: Muñoz de Bustillo, Rafael; Antón, José-Ignacio
    Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present an overall assessment of immigration in Spain. In order to do so, we analyse the evolution and composition of migration flows from and to Spain during the last decades. In addition, we explore in detail the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of Latin American and Caribbean immigrants in Spain.
    Keywords: Spain; emigration; immigration; Latin America
    JEL: F22
    Date: 2009–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:15055&r=mig

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