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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Martin, Philip |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of international migration in the Asia-Pacific region and reviews internal migration in China. After putting Asia-Pacific migration in a global context, it reviews trends in migration and the impacts of migrants in the major migrantreceiving countries, patterns of migration and their development impacts in migrant-sending countries, the human development impacts of migration, and three policy issues, viz, new seasonal worker programs for Pacific Islanders in New Zealand and Australia, required local sponsorship of foreigners in the Gulf countries, and the economic effects of migrants in the US and Thailand. Recent trends in internal migration in China, which shares attributes of international migration because of the hukou (household registration) system, are also assessed. |
| Keywords: | International labor migration; migrant workers; guest workers; Asia |
| JEL: | O15 J0 |
| Date: | 2009–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19215&r=mig |
| By: | Newland, Kathleen |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the human development implications of circular migration — both where it occurs naturally and where governments work to create it. The paper discusses various conceptions and definitions of circular migration, and concludes that circular migration is not intrinsically positive or negative in relation to human development; its impact depends upon the circumstances in which it occurs, the constraints that surround it and—above all—the degree of choice that individuals can exercise over their own mobility. The human-development lens distinguishes between de facto circular migration and circular migration that occurs within the parameters of government programs. |
| Keywords: | Circular migration; dual citizenship; forced migrants; guest workers; labor markets; mobility; seasonal migration; temporary migration; visa regimes |
| JEL: | F22 F16 O15 J0 |
| Date: | 2009–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19225&r=mig |
| By: | Hanson, Gordon H. |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I examine high-income country motives for restricting immigration. Abundant evidence suggests that allowing labor to move from low-income to high-income countries would yield substantial gains in global income. Yet, most high-income countries impose strict limits on labor inflows and set their admission policies unilaterally. A core principle underlying the World Trade Organization is reciprocity in tariff setting. When it comes to migration from poor to rich countries, however, labor flows are rarely bidirectional, making reciprocity moot and leaving labor importers with all the bargaining power. One motivation for barriers to labor inflows is political pressure from groups that are hurt by immigration. Raising immigration would depend on creating mechanisms to transfer income from those that immigration helps to those that it hurts. Another motivation for immigration restrictions is that labor inflows from abroad may exacerbate distortions in an economy associated with redistributive tax and transfer policies. Making immigration more attractive would require creating mechanisms that limit the negative fiscal impacts of labor inflows on natives. Fiscal distortions create an incentive for receiving countries to screen immigrants according to their perceived economic impact. For high skilled immigrants, screening can be based on educational degrees and professional credentials, which are relatively easy to observe. For low skilled immigrants, illegal immigration represents an imperfect but increasingly common screening device. For policy makers in labor-importing nations, the modest benefits freer immigration brings may simply not be worth the political hassle. To induce high-income countries to lower border barriers, they need to get more out of the bargain. |
| Keywords: | international migration; labor mobility; political economy; illegal migration |
| JEL: | Z1 K0 J6 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19178&r=mig |
| By: | Pita Barros, Pedro; Medalho Pereira, Isabel |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the performance of immigrants relative to natives, in terms of their health status, use of health care services, lifestyles, and coverage of health expenditures. We base the analysis on international evidence that identified a healthy immigrant effect, complemented by empirical research on the Portuguese National Health Survey. Furthermore, we assess whether differences in health performance depend on the personal characteristics of the individuals or can be directly associated with their migration experience. |
| Keywords: | Migration; health status; health care; healthy immigrant effect; Portugal |
| JEL: | O15 C33 |
| Date: | 2009–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:18201&r=mig |
| By: | Martin, Philip |
| Abstract: | About three percent of the world’s 6.1 billion people were international migrants in 2000. Population growth is expected to slow between 2000 and 2050 in comparison to 1950-2000, but international migration is expected to rise as persisting demographic and economic inequalities that motivate migration interact with revolutions in communications and transportation that enable people to cross borders. The default policy option to manage what is sometimes deemed out-of-control migration, adjusting the rights of migrants, is unsatisfactory, prompting this review of longer term factors affecting migration patterns, including aging in industrial countries, rural-urban migration that spills over national borders, and the migration infrastructure of agents and networks that moves people. The paper concludes with an assessment of the likely effects of the 2008-09 recession on international migration. |
| Keywords: | Global population and labor force; aging; international migration; rural-urban migration; recession and migration |
| JEL: | O15 J0 |
| Date: | 2009–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19199&r=mig |
| By: | Içduygu, Ahmet |
| Abstract: | As often argued, a negative perception of immigration, or even emigration, prevails public opinions and governments in most countries. It is argued that caused by economic hardship or political hardship or political unrest in countries of origin, it would threaten well-being and identity in countries of destination, and sometimes endanger political security. However, on the other hand, social scientists recognize that, being a part of the global circulation and global integration, human mobility bears a tremendous potential for human progress. This view is increasingly shared by several actors for which adequate policies could make migration a genuine instrument for economic and social development. Therefore, the conditions under which, and the mechanisms through which, migration can transform individual benefits into an aggregated one, for the greater society, are to be studied. From this perspective, Turkey provides us with an interesting case study; firstly because of its multiple migration roles as a country of emigration, immigration and transit, over time; secondly because, this ongoing flows of emigration and immigration involve various stages of a migration cycle; thirdly because, this migration cycle reflects, both explicitly and implicitly, some gains, and occasionally loses, both for the country and its people, migrants and non-migrants; and finally because of Turkey’s longestablished EU-membership process which highlights various types of migration issues. This report provides us with an overview of some aspects of migration-development nexus in the case of Turkey. |
| Keywords: | Development; emigration; immigration; remittances; migration cycle; Turkey; European Union. |
| JEL: | F22 O15 F24 |
| Date: | 2009–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19235&r=mig |
| By: | Facchini, Giovanni; Mayda, Anna Maria |
| Abstract: | We analyze a newly available dataset of migration policy decisions reported by governments to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs between 1976 and 2007. We find evidence indicating that most governments have policies aimed at either maintaining the status quo or at lowering the level of migration. We also document variation in migration policy over time and across countries of different regions and income levels. Finally, we examine patterns in various aspects of destination countries’ migration policies (policies towards family reunification, temporary vs. permanent migration, high-skilled migration). This analysis leads us to investigate the determinants of migration policy in a destination country. We develop a political economy framework in which voter attitudes represent a key component. We survey the literature on the determinants of public opinion towards immigrants and examine the link between these attitudes and governments’ policy decisions. While we find evidence broadly consistent with the median voter model, we conclude that this framework is not sufficient to understand actual migration policies. We discuss evidence which suggests that interest-groups dynamics may play a very important role. |
| Keywords: | immigration; immigration policy; median voter; interest groups; political economy |
| JEL: | J6 Z1 F5 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19179&r=mig |
| By: | Abazov, Rafis |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses recent migration trends in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Within the last decade (1999-2009) the Russian Federation became the world’s second largest recipient of migrants after the United States, while the Ukraine became the fourth largest and Kazakhstan became the ninth largest. Such large-scale population movement, which includes a significant number of labour migrants from resource-poor to resource-rich states in the region, has had an inevitable impact on the social, economic and human development in both source and host countries. By 2007-2009 Moldova, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have develop a high dependency on international money transfers from their labour migrants, having the world’s highest ratio of remittances to their GDP. During last few years numerous studies focused on migration issues within the CIS region, yet there are a number of problems to be still explored: What are the “push” and “pull” factors that motivate this large-scale migration? What are the current trends in the labour migration in the CIS? What are the short-term and long-term implications of the current migration trends for migrants and their families? What is the impact of the migration on human development in the region, including poverty reduction, social and gender equality, education and health? The paper addresses these and other questions. First, it evaluates the historical, political and social background and demographic context of the population movement in the region, which has become one of the most important determinants of migration during the recent times. Second, it overviews the most important push and pull factors that have affected migration during recent years and different types of migration responses to the social and economic pressures in sending and receiving countries. Third, it reviews the major impacts of the population movement on human development in the CIS region. In conclusion the paper summarizes the major findings and provides policy recommendations. |
| Keywords: | labour migration; regional labour market; human development; poverty; migration policy; remittances; rural-urban migration; urbanization; CIS; Kazakhstan; and Russia |
| JEL: | O15 J0 |
| Date: | 2009–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19220&r=mig |
| By: | Cummins, Matthew; Rodriguez, Francisco |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the empirical support behind the idea that there is a trade-off between the size of the migrant population and the rights and entitlements enjoyed by immigrants. We first look at the empirical correlation between measures of migrants’ rights and the size of the stock of immigrants in a number of existing databases. Using data on migrants’ rights from three recent studies—the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Migrant Accessibility Index, the Migration Policy Group and British Council’s Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) and the Human Development Report Office’s Migrant Entitlements and Services Index—we fail to find a systematic correlation of any sign. We then turn to regression analysis using OLS and instrumental variable techniques and again fail to find evidence in favor of the existence of a correlation. The numerical magnitudes of the correlations suggest a quantitatively small relationship which in several cases is positive rather than negative. |
| Keywords: | migration rights and entitlements; measurement; migration data |
| JEL: | Z1 O15 I32 |
| Date: | 2009–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19204&r=mig |
| By: | Ortega, Francesc; Peri, Giovanni |
| Abstract: | This paper contains three important contributions to the literature on international migrations. First, it compiles a new dataset on migration flows and stocks and on immigration laws for 14 OECD destination countries and 74 sending countries for each year over the period 1980-2005. Second, it extends the empirical model of migration choice across multiple destinations, developed by Grogger and Hanson (2008), by allowing for unobserved individual heterogeneity between migrants and non-migrants. We use the model to derive a pseudo-gravity empirical specification of the economic and legal determinants of international migration. Our estimates show that bilateral migration flows are increasing in the income per capita gap between origin and destination. We also find that bilateral flows decrease significantly when the destination countries adopt stricter immigration laws. Third, we estimate the impact of immigration flows on employment, investment and productivity in the receiving OECD countries using as instruments the ”push” factors only in the gravity equation. We find that immigration increases employment one for one, implying no crowding-out of natives. In addition, investment responds rapidly and vigorously, and total factor productivity is not affected. These results imply that immigration increases the total GDP of the receiving country in the short-run one-for-one, without affecting average wages or labor productivity. We also find that the effects of immigration are less beneficial when the receiving economy is in bad economic times. |
| Keywords: | international Migration; Push and Pull factors; Migration costs; Employment; Investment; Productivity |
| JEL: | J6 O15 J0 |
| Date: | 2009–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19183&r=mig |
| By: | Yang, Dean |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the relationship between international migration and human development. First, it reviews what we know about the factors that drive migration from developing to developed countries. Second, it reviews existing knowledge about the impact of international migration and remittances on the economic and human development of migrants’ source countries. These first two sections of the paper are accompanied by an assessment of the gaps in our knowledge that need to be filled with further research. The last section of the paper outlines policies that could help raise the development impact of migration and remittances. First, governments should extend absentee voting rights to overseas citizens. In addition, facilitating migrants’ access to and use of financial services could bring substantial benefits. Furthermore, governments can profitably devote self-discovery and enterprise promotion efforts to small-scale activities. Finally, there could be substantial benefits from encouraging overseas citizens to retire at home while taking advantage of accumulated retirement benefits from their migration host countries. |
| Keywords: | International migration; remittances; human development |
| JEL: | O15 |
| Date: | 2009–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19212&r=mig |
| By: | de Haas, Hein |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that mobility and migration have always been an intrinsic part of human development. Migration can be considered as a fundamental capabilities-enhancing freedom itself. However, any meaningful understanding of migration needs to simultaneously analyse agency and structure. Rather than applying dichotomous classifications such as between forced and voluntary migration, it is more appropriate to conceive of a continuum running from low to high constraints under which migration occurs, in which all migrants deal with structural constraints, although to highly varying degrees. Besides being an integral part of human development, mobility also tends to affect the same structural processes of which it is part. Simplistic positive-versus-negative debates on migration and development can be overcome by integrating agency-structure dialectics in the analysis of migration impacts. This paper argues that (i) the degree to which migrants are able to affect structural change is real but limited; (ii) the nature of change in sending and receiving is not pre-determined; and (iii) that in order to enable a more focused and rigorous debate, there is a need to better distinguish and specify different levels and dimensions at which the reciprocal relationship between human mobility and development can be analysed. A critical reading of the empirical literature leads to the conclusion that it would be naïve to think that despite their often considerable benefits for individuals and communities, migration and remittances alone can remove more structural development constraints. Despite their development potential, migrants and remittances can neither be blamed for a lack of development nor be expected to trigger take-off development in generally unattractive investment environments. By increasing selectivity and suffering among migrants, current immigration restrictions have a negative impact on migrants’ wellbeing as well as the poverty and inequality reducing potential of migration. |
| Keywords: | human development; human mobility; migration; poverty |
| JEL: | J6 O2 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19176&r=mig |
| By: | Van Hear, Nicholas; Brubaker, Rebecca; Bessa, Thais |
| Abstract: | In the analysis of migration a basic distinction is often made between those who chose to move and those who are forced to – that is, between ‘voluntary’ and ‘forced’ migrants. This distinction is maintained in the policy world, where the governance of international migration is shaped by the conceptual distinction between ‘voluntary’ and ‘forced’ migration as mutually exclusive categories. In reality of course the distinction is far from clear-cut. Migration can be ‘mixed’ in several senses: motivations may be mixed at the point of making the decision to move, when there are often combinations of choice and compulsion in play; people may travel with others in mixed migratory flows; motivations may change en route; and people may find themselves in mixed communities during their journeys or at their destination. This paper explores the connections between mixed migration and human development, understood as the expansion of capabilities and choice (Sen 1999). It first clarifies some of the key concepts in the migration discourse, particularly the role of choice and compulsion in migration, before exploring the emergence of the notions of ‘mixed migration’ and the ‘migration-asylum nexus’ in the policy arena. The paper then turns to some of the manifestations of ‘mixed migration’ and the conditions migrants encounter in such migration streams. It next considers how mixed migration and migration policies – or ‘migration governance’ -- encounter one another. Finally, some policy conclusions are drawn from the evidence presented, pointing to the idea that the transnational practices that arise from mixed migration may constitute a ‘durable solution’ in settings of conflict and displacement. |
| Keywords: | mixed migration; force and choice; refugees; migration policy; development |
| JEL: | Z1 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19202&r=mig |
| By: | Ghosh, Jayati |
| Abstract: | Women are increasingly significant as national and international migrants, and it is now evident that the complex relationship between migration and human development operates in genderdifferentiated ways. However, because migration policy has typically been gender-blind, an explicit gender perspective is necessary. This paper attempts this, beginning with an examination of recent trends in women’s migration, internationally and within nations. It then considers the implications of the socio-economic context of the sending location for women migrants. The process of migration, and how that can be gender-differentiated, is discussed with particular reference to the various types of female migration that are common: marriage migration, family migration, forced migration, migration for work. These can be further disaggregated into legal and irregular migration, all of which affect and the issues and problems of women migrants in the process of migration and in the destination country. The manifold and complex gendered effects of migration are discussed with reference to varied experiences. Women migrants’ relations with the sending households and the issues relevant for returning migrants are also considered. The final section provides some recommendations for public policy for migration through a gender lens. |
| Keywords: | gender; female migration; policy reform |
| JEL: | Z1 J6 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19181&r=mig |
| By: | Facchini, Giovanni; Mayda, Anna Maria |
| Abstract: | It is commonly argued that skilled immigration benefits the destination country through several channels. Yet, only a small group of countries reports to have policies in place aimed at increasing the intake of skilled immigrants. Why? In this paper we analyze the factors that affect a direct measure of individual attitudes towards skilled migration, focusing on two main channels: the labor market and the welfare state. We find that more educated natives are less likely to favor skilled immigration - consistent with the labor-market channel - while richer people are more likely to do so - in accordance with the welfare state channel under the tax adjustment model. Our findings thus suggest that the labor market competition threat perceived by skilled natives in the host countries might be driving the observed cautious policies. |
| Keywords: | attitudes; immigration policy; political economy; skilled immigration |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7592&r=mig |
| By: | Sabates-Wheeler, Rachel |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to explore how irregular status impacts a range of human development outcomes for labour migrants. The analysis indicates that for poorer labour migrants, irregular (or undocumented) migration provides a positive, private return to income and livelihood improvements for themselves and their families as compared to 1) no movement at all, and at times, 2) regular (or documented) migration. However, irregular status is associated with a range of forms of disadvantage and vulnerabilities that often compromise migrants’ rights, entitlements and the rate of return they achieve from the migration process. Migrants are as rational as other members of the population and, being aware of these vulnerabilities, many still choose to migrate. The larger hypothesis of this paper is that, as long as poverty drives migration, legal status will not be a priority for migrants. Migrants will be willing to endure short to medium term hardship and the undermining of a range of capabilities and rights (such as education, social assets, rights and personal welfare) to provide economic safety nets for their families and future improvements to their (and their families) livelihoods and wellbeing. As long as migrants on average achieve a positive increase in income and assets through the migration experience (which they do) they will sacrifice a whole range of freedoms and rights. It is therefore imperative that policy makers make active steps to protect migrants with regard to basic human rights and facilitate positive outcomes from their migration experiences. In particular, we urge southern governments to advocate for all their migrants abroad, regardless of legal status. If southern country governments accept the mainstream opinion that migration is good for development, and furthermore recognise that a substantial number, if not the majority, of their migrants are irregular, and continue sending remittances and investment, then governments should seek to protect their citizens aboard, facilitate safe remittances, and begin to stand firm in the face of pressure to control national borders. |
| Keywords: | Irregular status; migration; vulnerability; poverty; protection |
| JEL: | Z1 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–07–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19209&r=mig |
| By: | Ivakhnyuk, Irina |
| Abstract: | For Russia, migration policy – in terms of internal or/and international migration flows management – was an ever-important element of the State activities. Concentrated on State interests, the policy also resulted in human development. The paper presents a historical overview of the Soviet and Russian migration policies with special emphases on the impact on human development and the driving forces behind the changing policies. The Soviet period can be characterized as contradiction between strict limitations on the freedom of movement provided by the propiska system, and large-scale population movements, both voluntary and involuntary, that were inspired by economic and administrative policy measures to meet labor demand of an industrializing economy. In the post-Soviet period, international migration is the major focus of the Russian migration policy. The Russian Federation is the major receiving country in the vast former USSR territory. The evolution of Russian migration policy in the post- Soviet period is a good example for getting a better understanding of how the everlasting conflict between the need for additional human resources and anti-immigrant public moods (typical of all receiving countries), combined with the opportunistic considerations of political elites, that hampers the elaboration of a reasonable long-term migration strategy. Russian migration policy has been drifting from a relatively open immigration regulation based on a laissez faire approach in the early 1990s to restrictive immigration laws in the early 2000s and to an ‘open door’ migration policy in respect to CIS citizens in 2007. |
| Keywords: | Human development; internal migration; international migration; migration policy; Russia |
| JEL: | Z1 O15 E6 |
| Date: | 2009–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19196&r=mig |
| By: | Klugman, Jeni; Medalho Pereira, Isabel |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an internationally comparable assessment of several dimensions of migration policies as of early 2009. For a selected set of 28 countries, both developed and developing, we analyse the admission criteria, policies on integration and treatment of migrants, and efforts to enforce those policies. Irregular migration is a particular area of focus. The analysis distinguishes between different entry regimes, namely: labour migrants (high or low skilled, with a permanent or a temporary permit), those who move with a family-related visa, humanitarian migrants (asylum seekers and refugees), international visitors and international students. The data is drawn from an assessment by country experts as well as by desk-research of HDRO staff. |
| Keywords: | Migration policies; admission; treatment; enforcement |
| JEL: | O15 J0 |
| Date: | 2009–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19231&r=mig |
| By: | van der Mensbrugghe, Dominique; Roland-Holst, David |
| Abstract: | Global labor markets have evolved dramatically in the last several decades and will continue to so for some time to come, driven by changing population demographics, economic globalization, dramatic changes in transportation technology, and accelerating institutional change. All these characteristics of migration make it an essential policy issue for the human development agenda. The United Nations Human Development Report for 2009 intends to provide a forward-looking assessment of global labor market dynamics, with particular reference to the effects of increased labor mobility on global patterns of employment and output. To date, the most rigorous analysis of this subject is the World Bank Global Prospect Group’s forecasts with their Global Economic Prospects Linkage model. This report describes how an update of the GEP model captures more detailed information on global labor movements and heterogeneity, and reports new projections on global migration patterns. These results suggest complex market interactions between migrants and resident workers, whether native or migrant, and between labor and other factors of production. For example reducing migration raises the premium on migrant labor in the destination countries, while lowering the relative return to capital. The first effect makes for higher real income, consumption, and remittances for migrants of both types. For native populations in high income countries, the negative capital income effect dominates the wage effect of reduced competition from migrants. It is perhaps ironic that reducing labor competition is more beneficial to migrants, who lack the capital income and thereby gain absolutely from rising relative wages. Of course one of the primary demand drivers for migrants is the desire to profit from using capital resources more fully within high income economies. In OECD economies, pension schemes guarantee that a significant part of these profits accrue indirectly to native workers. Taken together, these results strongly support the argument that migration has beneficial growth effects on global real economic activity, improving the efficiency of international resource allocation for the benefit of both sending and receiving countries. However, these reassuring aggregate results mask more complex interactions in domestic labor markets, and there will inevitably be both winners and losers from the ensuing structural adjustments. Having said this, the existence of substantial aggregate gains, particularly new fiscal resources for the public sector, suggests the prospect of adjustment assistance to offset adverse impacts. |
| Keywords: | Migration; globalization; North-South |
| JEL: | F16 O15 J01 |
| Date: | 2009–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19233&r=mig |
| By: | Massey, Douglas; Sánchez R., Magaly |
| Abstract: | The United States is presently characterized by rising anti-immigrant sentiment, repressive immigration enforcement, and the negative framing of Latinos as threatening and undesirable. As a result, social boundaries between immigrants and natives have hardened and boundary crossing has become more difficult. Under these circumstances, the prediction of classical assimilation theory is turned on its head: the more time that immigrants spend in the United States and the more contact they have with Americans and American society, the more aware they become of the harsh realities of prejudice and discrimination and the more they come to experience the rampant inequalities of the secondary labor market. Rather than ideologically assimilating, therefore, the greater their experience in the United States, the more likely immigrants are to express a reactive ethnicity that rejects the label “American.” Our work suggests that the greatest threat to the successful assimilation of immigrants comes not from foreign involvements or transnational loyalties, but from the rejection, exclusion, and discrimination that immigrants experience in the United States. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; Exclusion; Discrimination; Latinos; Identity |
| JEL: | Z1 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19226&r=mig |
| By: | Bakewell, Oliver |
| Abstract: | This paper looks at the relationship between migration between developing countries – or countries of the global ‘South’ – and processes of human development. The paper offers a critical analysis of the concept of South-South migration and draws attention to four fundamental problems. The paper then gives a broad overview of the changing patterns of migration in developing regions, with a particular focus on mobility within the African continent. It outlines some of the economic, social and political drivers of migration within poor regions, noting that these are also drivers of migration in the rest of the world. It also highlights the role of the state in influencing people’s movements and the outcomes of migration. The paper highlights the distinctive contribution that migration within developing regions makes to human development in terms of income, human capital and broader processes of social and political change. The paper concludes that the analysis of migration in poorer regions of the world and its relationship with human development requires much more data than is currently available. |
| Keywords: | Migration; South-South migration; Africa; Human development |
| JEL: | J6 Z1 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19185&r=mig |
| By: | Azcona, Ginette |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the treatment of migration in Participatory Poverty Assessments (PPAs), conducted in 14 different countries. The analysis suggests that for the very poor, migration is most often rural to rural and rural to urban and not across borders. The drivers of migration are context specific, but are generally related to the pursuit of greater livelihood opportunities, greater access to education and health services, and at times necessitated by crises resulting from conflict or natural disaster. Migrants are typically young men, although more and more women are also leaving villages in search of paid work. Interestingly, while the feminization of migration contributes to greater investments in education, some evidence suggests that the impact is not uniform across all school-aged children in the household. Finally, in a number of countries, households with migrants were more likely to be categorized as well-off, regardless of their level of assets. Significant differences in impacts corresponding to the type of migration (internal versus international), and duration (i.e. seasonal, temporal, and permanent) were also observed. |
| Keywords: | Participatory approaches; methods; poverty; migration; human development. |
| JEL: | F22 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19239&r=mig |
| By: | Ruhs, Martin |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the potential impacts of the rights of migrant workers (“migrant rights”) on the human development of actual and potential migrants, their families, and other people in migrants’ countries of origin. A key feature of the paper is its consideration of how migrant rights affect both the capability to move and work in higher income countries (i.e. the access of workers in low-income countries to labour markets of higher-income countries) and capabilities while living and working abroad. The paper suggests that there may be a trade-off between the number and some of the rights of low-skilled migrants admitted to high-income countries and explores the implications for human development. |
| Keywords: | Migrant rights; immigration policy; human development; global labor markets |
| JEL: | O15 E6 |
| Date: | 2009–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19206&r=mig |
| By: | Fang, Cai; Yang, Du; Meiyan, Wang |
| Abstract: | China has witnessed the largest labor migration since the reform and opening up policies were implemented. According to the most recent statistics, the total number of rural to urban migrant workers reached 136 million. Migrants are defined as persons who have left out of township for more than 6 months. The migration flow has propelled the economic and societal transition in China through labor productivity enhancement and social restructuring. Accordingly, the Chinese government has improved the migration policies with increasing migration flow and the changes of labor market situations. This report is organized as follows. Section one briefly introduces when and how the migration started by reviewing the history, size and trend, impacts of migration in China and the vulnerability of migrants. Section two reviews the main migration policy changes in the past three decades. Section three illuminates the Lewisian turning point that marks economic development and transitioning in China. Section four discusses the relevance of China’s experiences to other developing economies in terms of economic development and migration policy changes. |
| Keywords: | Migration in China; Labor mobility; Impact of crisis |
| JEL: | O15 J0 |
| Date: | 2009–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19187&r=mig |
| By: | Landau, Loren B.; Segatti, Aurelia Wa Kabwe |
| Abstract: | Controls on human mobility and efforts to undermine them continue to shape South Africa’s politics, economy, and society. Despite the need for improved policy responses to human mobility, reform is hindered by lack of capacity, misinformation, and anti-migrant sentiments within and outside of government. This report outlines these trends and tensions by providing a broad overview of the limited demographic and socio-economic data available on migration to and within South Africa. Doing so highlights the spatialised aspects of human mobility, trends centred on and around the country’s towns and cities. It also finds significant development potential in international migrants’ skills and entrepreneurialism. By enhancing remittances and trade, non-nationals may also expand markets for South African products and services. Despite these potential benefits, there are severe obstacles to immigration reform. These include a renewed South African populism; the influence of a strong anti-trafficking lobby; a European Union (EU) agenda promoting stricter border controls; poor implementation capacity; and endemic corruption among police and immigration officials. There are different, but equally significant problems in reforming frameworks governing domestic mobility including perceptions that in-migration is an inherent drain on municipal budgets. Recognising these limitations, the report concludes with three recommendations. (1) A conceptual reconsideration of the divisions between documented and undocumented migrants; between voluntary and forced migrants; and between international and domestic migration. (2) An analytical respatialisation in future planning and management scenarios involving regional and local bodies in evaluating, designing and implementing policy. (3) To situate migration and its management within global debates over governance and development and for ‘migration mainstreaming’ into all aspects of governance. The success of any of these initiatives will require better data, the skills to analyse that data, and the integration of data into planning processes. |
| Keywords: | migration; urbanisation; governance; South Africa; policy reform; capabilities |
| JEL: | J6 Z1 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19182&r=mig |
| By: | Nisar Ahmad (School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus, Denmark); Rayhaneh Esmaeilzadeh (Department of Economics Concordia University) |
| Abstract: | This study compares the earnings mobility between immigrants and natives within and between Denmark and Canada. Both countries have different labour market conditions and immigration history which leads to an interesting comparison of earning mobility processes. The paper employs a dynamic multinomial logit model with discrete factor approximation for the specification of unobserved individual heterogeneity. The model takes into account the effect of the endogenous initial conditions problem and unobserved heterogeneity to separate structural and spurious state dependence. The results show that immigrants-native differences in earnings mobility, structural state dependence, and segmentation of earnings distribution are relatively more prominent in Denmark compared to Canada. |
| Keywords: | Earnings Mobility Process, Immigrants and Natives, Spurious and Structural State Dependence, Quartile Mobility Rates, Discrete Factor Approximation |
| JEL: | C33 C35 J15 J38 J61 |
| Date: | 2009–12–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:aarhec:2009-13&r=mig |
| By: | Durand, Jorge |
| Abstract: | The main characteristic of the Latin American migration on the 20th century was the change of flow. Until the 1950s, Latin America received migrants from Europe and the Middle East. As a result of economic change, political instability, and economic crisis, Latin America started exporting migrant workers. Now, Latin American migrants mainly go to the U.S., and in less extend to Europe (i.e. Spain, Italy, and Portugal), and in some cases to Japan as it is the case of Peru and Brazil. Several migrant patterns follow this process, which is characteristic to the massive emigration at the dawn of the 21st century. |
| Keywords: | Latin America; immigration; emigration; United States; Europe |
| JEL: | Z1 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19207&r=mig |
| By: | Deshingkar, Priya; Akter, Shaheen |
| Abstract: | The paper discusses how gaps in both the data on migration and the understanding of the role of migration in livelihood strategies and economic growth in India, have led to inaccurate policy prescriptions and a lack of political commitment to improving the living and working conditions of migrants. Field evidence from major migrant employing sectors is synthesised to show that circular migration is the dominant form of economic mobility for the poor; especially the lower castes and tribes. The authors argue that the human costs of migration are high due to faulty implementation of protective legislation and loopholes in the law and not due to migration per se. The paper discusses child labour in specific migration streams in detail stressing that this issue needs to be addressed in parallel. It also highlights the non-economic drivers and outcomes of migration that need to be considered when understanding its impacts. The authors calculate that there are roughly 100 million circular migrants in India contributing 10% to the national GDP. New vulnerabilities created by the economic recession are discussed. Detailed analysis of village resurveys in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are also presented and these show conclusively that migration is an important route out of poverty. |
| Keywords: | India; circular migration; caste; tribe; child labour; human development |
| JEL: | Z1 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19193&r=mig |
| By: | Black, Richard; Sward, Jon |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the specific question of how Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) address migration and its potential to enhance human development at the national level. Based on a review of PRSPs completed since 1999, it argues that migration often remains poorly recognised or analysed in poorer countries in terms of its impacts on poverty reduction, whilst attitudes towards migration in these countries are often highly negative and/or based on limited evidence, especially in relation to internal migration. Analysis of how both internal and international migration are treated in PRSPs is also placed in the context of a broader understanding of the purpose of, and constraints faced by the PRS process. The paper goes on to highlight the extent to which in Sub-Saharan African countries, successive drafts of PRSPs have shown increasing attention to migration. It also considers how analysis of the problems and opportunities associated with different types of migration are converted into policy initiatives, highlighting the lack of good practice in terms of the incorporation of migration into human development policy. |
| Keywords: | Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs); internal migration; international migration; sub-Saharan Africa; analysis of migration |
| JEL: | O15 |
| Date: | 2009–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19222&r=mig |
| By: | Mazzolari, Francesca; Numark, David |
| Abstract: | We study potential economic benefits of immigration stemming from two factors: first, that immigrants bring not only their labor supply with them, but also their consumption demands; and second, that immigrants may have a comparative advantage in the production of ethnic goods. Using data on the universe of business establishments located in California between 1992 and 2002 matched with Census of Population data, we find some evidence that immigrant inflows boost employment in the retail sector, which is non-traded and a non-intensive user of immigrant labor. We find that immigration is associated with fewer stand-alone retail stores, and a greater number of large and in particular big-box retailers – evidence that likely contradicts a diversityenhancing effect of immigration. On the other hand, focusing more sharply on the restaurant sector, for which we can better identify the types of products consumed by customers, the evidence indicates that immigration is associated with increased ethnic diversity of restaurants. |
| Keywords: | Effects of immigration; ethnic goods; consumption diversity |
| JEL: | E2 O15 J0 |
| Date: | 2009–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19217&r=mig |
| By: | Harttgen, Kenneth; Klasen, Stephan |
| Abstract: | Migration continues to be a very important income diversification strategy, especially for poor populations in developing countries. However, while there has been much analysis on the economic consequences of migration for migrants and the receiving regions, whether internal migration improves or deteriorates human development is not easy to determine. This papers applies a recently development analytical framework that allows to calculate the HDI for subgroups of a population. We use this approach to calculate the HDI by internal migrational status to assess the differences between the levels of human development of internal migrants compared to non-migrants, and also across countries as well as by urban and rural areas. An empirical illustration for a sample of 16 low and middle income countries shows that, overall, internal migrants slightly achieve a higher level of human development than non-migrants. The results also show that differences in income between migrants and non-migrants are generally higher than differences in education and life-expectancy. Disaggregating the analysis by urban and rural areas reveals that urban internal migrants are better o® than urban non-migrants and rural migrants are better off than rural non-migrants. |
| Keywords: | Human Development; Migration Income Inequality; Differential Mortality; Inequality in Education |
| JEL: | D31 I0 O15 J0 |
| Date: | 2009–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19237&r=mig |
| By: | Gligorov, Vladimir |
| Abstract: | Migration from the European economies in transition is discussed on the bases of the research carried out within the framework of the Global Development Network over the last four to five years. Trade-offs between functionings and capabilities are traced in cases of voluntary and involuntary migration as well as in the case of permanent and temporary migration. Various causes and effects of migration are considered. Policy proposals end the paper. There is a literature review in the appendix with the view to check the claims made in the public debate on migration against the existing knowledge on that subject. |
| Keywords: | transition countries; migration; labour markets; European integration |
| JEL: | Z1 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19198&r=mig |
| By: | Yu Zhu; Zhongmin Wu; Meiyan Wang; Yang Du; Fang Cai |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of remittances on the savings behaviour of rural households in China, using a cross-sectional survey. Allowing for endogeneity and left-censoring of remittances, we find that the marginal propensity to save out of remittances is well below half of that out of other sources of incomes. Moreover, we find no evidence of any direct effect of remittances on either capital input or gross output of farm production. These findings are in line with recent studies which conclude that remittances are largely used for consumption purposes by rural Chinese households and there is no link between migration and productive investment. |
| Keywords: | Growth and cycles; recessions; technical efficiency; technical progress. |
| JEL: | D12 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:0923&r=mig |
| By: | Bell, Martin; Muhidin, Salut |
| Abstract: | Internal migration is the most significant process driving changes in the pattern of human settlement across much of the world, yet remarkably few attempts have been made to compare internal migration between countries. Differences in data collection, in geography and in measurement intervals seriously hinder rigorous cross-national comparisons. We supplement data from the University of Minnesota IPUMS collection to make comparisons between 28 countries using both five year and lifetime measures of migration, and focusing particularly on migration intensity and spatial impacts. We demonstrate that Courgeau's k (Courgeau 1973) provides a powerful mechanism to transcend differences in statistical geography. Our results reveal widespread differences in the intensity of migration, and in the ages at which it occurs, with Asia generally displaying low mobility and sharp, early peaks, whereas Latin America and the Developed Countries show higher mobility and flatter age profiles usually peaking at older ages. High mobility is commonly offset by corresponding counter-flows but redistribution through internal migration is substantial in some countries, especially when computed as a lifetime measure. Time series comparisons show five year migration intensities falling in most countries (China being a notable exception), although lifetime data show more widespread rises due to age structure effects. Globally, we estimate that 740 million people, one in eight, were living within their home country but outside their region of birth, substantially above the commonly cited figure of 200 million international migrants. |
| Keywords: | Internal migration; comparative analysis; migration intensity; redistribution; age; geography; lifetime; IPUMS |
| JEL: | O15 C8 |
| Date: | 2009–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19213&r=mig |
| By: | Kleemans, Marieke; Klugman, Jeni |
| Abstract: | Migration is a controversial issue. Reading of the popular media in virtually any country, alongside an array of opinion polls suggest that residents see controls on immigration as essential and that people would prefer to see existing rules on entry tightened rather than relaxed. This stands in contrast to the evidence which points to significant gains for movers and, in many cases, benefits also for destination and origin countries – as reviewed in the forthcoming Human Development Report 2009. This paper makes several important contributions to an already rich literature about public opinion and migration. It highlights that attitudes are not as monochrome as might initially appear. A more detailed analysis of the nature, patterns and correlates of opinions toward migration in both developed and developing countries shows that values favourable toward diversity are in fact widely held, albeit with important variations. We also cast important light on how policies toward migration and underlying structural characteristics affect attitudes. Moreover, as many migrants do not end up in developed or OECD countries, public opinions in developing countries are of interest. As far as we are aware, this paper is the first published attempt to explore attitudes in countries in all parts of the human development spectrum. While the data investigated is largely drawn from 2005/2006, we frame key questions in both a longer term perspective, and highlight attitudes towards migrants when jobs are scarce, which has heightened relevance during periods of recession. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; human development; public opinion |
| JEL: | F22 O15 J15 |
| Date: | 2009–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19236&r=mig |
| By: | Letouzé, Emmanuel; Purser, Mark; Rodríguez, Francisco; Cummins, Matthew |
| Abstract: | This paper presents empirical estimates of a gravity model of bilateral migration that properly accounts for non-linearities and tackles causality issues through an instrumental variables approach. In contrast to the existing literature, which is limited to OECD data, we have estimated our model using a matrix of bilateral migration stocks for 127 countries. We find that the inverted-U relationship between income at origin and migration found by other authors survives the more demanding bilateral specification but does not survive both instrumentation and introduction of controls for the geographical and cultural proximity between country pairs. We also evaluate the effect of migration on origin and destination country income using the geographically determined component of migration as a source of exogenous variation and fail to find a significant effect of migration on origin or destination income. |
| Keywords: | Gravity models; international migration; economic growth |
| JEL: | F22 F16 O15 O57 O19 |
| Date: | 2009–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19227&r=mig |
| By: | Cerrutti, Marcela |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the process of feminization of South American intra-regional migration, with emphasis in the Southern Cone. It describes recent changes and trends, and addresses some of the most salient issues on the participation and experiences of female migrants. It deals with the social and economic reasons underlying the increasing autonomous migration of women, particularly on the interconnections between the South-American economic restructuring and the increasing demand of female migrants by the service and care sectors. Further issues are examined, such as the potential effects of the migration process on women’s empowerment; the emergence of global chains of care and its relation with long-distance motherhood; and the labor market experiences of female migrant. Finally, the report also deals with the dark side of the women’s migration: female trafficking. |
| Keywords: | gender, female migration, South American intra-regional migration |
| JEL: | Z1 |
| Date: | 2009–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19192&r=mig |
| By: | Opeskin, Brian |
| Abstract: | Many migration theories identify ‘the law’ as a significant constraint on the international movement of persons. While this constraint often operates through national migration legislation, this study examines the influence of international law in shaping contemporary patterns in the international movement of persons at the macro level. The analysis begins with an examination of the long-established power of a State to regulate cross-border movement of persons as an inherent attribute of State sovereignty, together with the accepted limitations on a State’s power to control entry and exit. Yet, international law reaches well beyond the movement of people across borders. The development of international human rights law has been a key constraint on state action in the United Nations era by also regulating the treatment of migrants within a State’s borders. The study considers how international law has responded to current migration issues, including: protection of migrant women and children; suppression of smuggling and trafficking of people; labour migration; and environmental migration. As in other areas of international society, there has been a proliferation of institutions through which international migration law is made and enforced. The most prominent among them are the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), but the establishment of other entities with overlapping mandates has given rise to calls for a new international migration regime based on streamlined institutional arrangements. The study concludes that international law is an imperfect framework for regulating the international movement of persons because it has developed in a piecemeal fashion over a long time to deal with issues of concern at particular points in human history. Yet, despite its shortfalls, international law and its associated institutions unquestionably play a most important role in constraining and channeling state authority over the international movement of persons. |
| Keywords: | international migration law; admission of aliens; refugees; expulsion of foreign nationals; human rights of migrants; diplomatic protection; migrant workers; international trade in services; environmental migration; migrant women and children; human smuggling and trafficking; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; International Organization for Migration |
| JEL: | K0 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19200&r=mig |
| By: | Tirtosudarmo, Riwanto |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses population movement in Indonesia within the broader contexts of human development. Human movement, voluntary and involuntary, is a reflection of the people initiatives and responses to the changing nature of society and economy. As a large archipelagic state, movement of people across the country, historically, has always an important dimension of social formation in Indonesia. The paper however focuses on movement of people in the last four decades. It aims to examine the connection between migration and its wider social and economic contexts, looking at how politics shape migration policy and in turn, how migration affects policy making. The paper discusses at length recent issues of overseas labor migration, particularly on the apparently embedded inertia within the policy making processes. The continuing incidences of irregular migration, forced migration and human trafficking obviously mirror the incapacity of the state in properly managing the movement of people. The insufficient data and information generally hampered any conclusive linkages of migration and human development. With or without state’s proper policies people will continuously on the move enriching human development in Indonesia. |
| Keywords: | Indonesia; migration; transmigration; social formation; economic development; human development |
| JEL: | Z1 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19201&r=mig |
| By: | Gibney, Matthew |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the situation of a subgroup of non-citizens found in virtually all contemporary states, what I call “precarious residents”. Precarious residents can be defined as non-citizens living in the state that possess few social, political or economic rights, are highly vulnerable to deportation, and have little or no option for making secure their immigration status. The archetypal precarious resident is the undocumented (or unlawful) migrant. However, there are many other barely tolerated individuals who also fit the appellation, such as asylum seekers (including ones whose claims have been rejected), guest workers, and individuals with temporary protection from deportation. I begin this paper by exploring the nature of precarious residence, discussing its dimensions, causes and manifestations in different national contexts. I move then to consider the human development consequences of precarious residence before exploring the question of the responsibilities of states to protect the rights and, in some cases, recognize the membership claims of these non-citizens. |
| Keywords: | immigration; citizenship; non-citizens; rights; undocumented migration; temporary workers; ethics; human rights; asylum; integration; internally displaced persons |
| JEL: | Z1 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19190&r=mig |
| By: | Gray Molina, George; Yañez, Ernesto |
| Abstract: | Over half of Bolivian heads of household are lifetime migrants. This paper looks at the long term impact of internal migration over human development in Bolivia. Three issues frame these effects. First, twenty five years of rural to urban migration have transformed the demographic profile of Bolivian society. The new middle third is younger, more bilingual and better educated, with more access to social services than in the past. The poorest of the poor, however, did not migrate to the extent of the non-poor. Second, urban workers make approximately four times as much wages as identical workers in rural areas, controlling for age, ethnicity, and years of schooling. Two caveats dampen this place premium effect: schooling quality and informal insurance mechanisms that make migration more costly. Third, increases in human development can be associated to an “urbanization dividend” that made social services more accessible to first and second generation migrants over a twenty-five year period. Future increases in human development, however, are likely to depend on providing quality services and expanding socials services to the rural poor, rather on gains from urbanization. The key policy challenges of the future include both an expansion of services to the poorest of the poor in rural areas and breaking down discrimination barriers against women and indigenous people in urban labor markets. |
| Keywords: | Migration; human development; poverty; employment; schooling |
| JEL: | O15 J11 I32 |
| Date: | 2009–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19229&r=mig |
| By: | Deb, Partha; Seck, Papa |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to measure the returns to migration using non-experimental data taking both observed and unobserved characteristics into account. A significant challenge related to migration research and the issues of unobserved heterogeneity is that the standard 2stage least squares estimator (2SLS) is strictly only applicable to situations with linear and continuous treatment and outcomes, both of which are not appropriate for models of migration and many outcomes of interest. Furthermore, migration is not always a binary process given that people migrate to city or non-city locations and some migrants do return. Introducing these multinomial treatment effects means that one cannot rely on standard 2SLS methods. Using panel data from Indonesia (Indonesia Family Life Survey—IFLS) and Mexico (Mexican Family Life Survey— MxFLS) and applying non-linear instrumental variable (Heckman’s treatment effects model) and maximum simulated likelihood models, we measure the impacts of migration on a broad range of variables that include socio economic outcomes such as consumption, nutrition, health status and emotional well-being for adult household members and health and schooling outcomes for children. We find consistent results for both countries that point to significant trade-offs related to migration. We found that migration can greatly improve socio-economic status through increases in income or consumption but can also be detrimental to the health status and emotional well-being of migrants and/or their extended families. |
| Keywords: | The aim of this paper is to measure the returns to migration using non-experimental data taking both observed and unobserved characteristics into account. A significant challenge related to migration research and the issues of unobserved heterogeneity is that the standard 2stage least squares estimator (2SLS) is strictly only applicable to situations with linear and continuous treatment and outcomes; both of which are not appropriate for models of migration and many outcomes of interest. Furthermore; migration is not always a binary process given that people migrate to city or non-city locations and some migrants do return. Introducing these multinomial treatment effects means that one cannot rely on standard 2SLS methods. Using panel data from Indonesia (Indonesia Family Life Survey—IFLS) and Mexico (Mexican Family Life Survey— MxFLS) and applying non-linear instrumental variable (Heckman’s treatment effects model) and maximum simulated likelihood models; we measure the impacts of migration on a broad range of variables that include socio economic outcomes such as consumption; nutrition; health status and emotional well-being for adult household members and health and schooling outcomes for children. We find consistent results for both countries that point to significant trade-offs related to migration. We found that migration can greatly improve socio-economic status through increases in income or consumption but can also be detrimental to the health status and emotional well-being of migrants and/or their extended families. |
| JEL: | C3 O15 C8 |
| Date: | 2009–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19214&r=mig |
| By: | Hou, Feng; Picot, Garnett |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the recent research on labour market outcomes of the children of immigrants in Canada and the United States (i.e., the 2nd generation), and its determinants. The paper focuses on outcome gaps between the 2nd and third-and-higher generations, as well as the intergenerational transmission of earnings between immigrants (the first generation) and their children. Overall, in both Canada and the United States the labour market outcomes of the children of immigrants are positive. On average they have higher levels of education, and similar labour force participation rates and unemployment rates (no controls) as the third and higher generations (i.e. the children with native born parents). Furthermore, the children of immigrants tend to have higher earnings (unadjusted data). The 2nd generation is also more likely to be employed in professional occupations than the 3rd-and-higher generation, reflecting their higher average levels of education, particularly in Canada. However, after accounting for background characteristics, among racial minority groups in Canada the positive earnings gap turns negative. Regarding the determinants of aggregate outcomes, educational attainment may account for up to half of the (positive) earnings gap between the 2nd and third-and-higher generations. Other important determinants of the wage gap include location of residence and community size, ethnic group/source region background, the “degree of stickiness†in educational and earnings transmission between the 1st and 2nd generation, and “ethnic capitalâ€. In both Canada and the United States there are large differences in outcomes by source region/ethnic group background. The U.S the sociological literature in particular focuses on possible “downward assimilation†among children of immigrants with Mexican and other Hispanic backgrounds. In Canada, after controls, the 2nd generation racial minority groups outperform the 3rd plus generation educationally, but the 2nd generation with European and American backgrounds do better in the labour market. Based on the trends in the composition of immigrants since the 1980s, and their correlation with 2nd generation outcomes, the educational and labour market gaps may move in different direction in the two countries in the future; becoming increasingly positive in Canada, and more negative in the U.S. |
| Keywords: | Immigrants, Second Generation, Labour Market Outcomes, Canada and the United States |
| JEL: | J61 J15 J11 |
| Date: | 2009–11–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2009-63&r=mig |
| By: | Assaf Razin; Efraim Sadka; Benjarong Suwankiri |
| Abstract: | The paper develops a dynamic politico-economic model featuring three groups of voters: skilled workers, unskilled workers, and retirees. The model features both inter- and intra-generational redistribution, resembling a welfare state. The skilled workers are net contributors to the welfare state whereas the unskilled workers and old retirees are net beneficiaries. When the skilled cohort grows rapidly, it may be necessary to bring in unskilled migrants to counter balance the expanding size of the skilled group.The native-born young, whether skilled or unskilled, benefit from letting in migrants of all skill types, because their high birth rates can help increase the tax base in the next period. In this respect, skilled migrants help the welfare state more than unskilled migrants, to the extent that the offspring resemble their parents with respect to skill. On the other hand, more migrants in the present will strengthen the political power of the young in the next period who, relatively to the old, are less keen on the generosity of the welfare state. In this respect, unskilled migrants pose less of a threat to the generosity of the welfare state then skilled migrants. |
| JEL: | F0 H0 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15597&r=mig |
| By: | Facchini, Giovanni; Mayda, Anna Maria; Puglisi, Riccardo |
| Abstract: | Illegal immigration has been the focus of much debate in receiving countries, but little is known about what drives individual attitudes towards illegal immigrants. To study this question, we use the CCES survey, which was carried out in 2006 in the United States. We find evidence that - in addition to standard labor market and welfare state considerations - media exposure is significantly correlated with public opinion on illegal immigration. Controlling for education, income and ideology, individuals watching Fox News are 9 percentage points more likely than CBS viewers to oppose the legalization of undocumented immigrants. We find an effect of the same size and direction for CNN viewers, whereas individuals watching PBS are instead more likely to support legalization. Ideological self-selection into different news programs plays an important role, but cannot entirely explain the correlation between media exposure and attitudes about illegal immigration. |
| Keywords: | attitudes; illegal immigration; immigration; media; preferences |
| JEL: | F1 F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:7593&r=mig |
| By: | Stark, Oded; Fan, C. Simon |
| Abstract: | Drawing on the literature of occupational status and social distance, a theory is developed of labor migration that is prompted by a desire to avoid âsocial humiliation.â A closed-economy general equilibrium model that incorporates occupational status and examines the interaction between the goods market and the labor market is constructed. This framework is then extended from a closed, single economy to an open economy setting in a world that consists of two countries or two regions. It is shown that as long as migration can reduce humiliation sufficiently, migration will occur even between two identical economies. Hence, a new model of migration is presented in which migration arises from a wish to reap social exposure gains. The model shows that migration increases the number of individuals who choose to perform degrading jobs and that consequently, migration lowers the price of the good produced in the sector that is associated with low social status. Moreover, the more migration reduces the âhumiliationâ of performing degrading jobs, the larger the number of individuals who end up choosing such jobs, and the lower the wage in that sector. Finally, a welfare analysis is conducted, comparing the level of wellbeing in an open economy with the level of wellbeing in a closed economy. It is shown that the greater an individualâs aversion to performing degrading jobs, the more likely it is that he will experience a welfare gain when the economy opens up. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Social distance, Occupational status, Social exposure gains, General equilibrium, Consumer/Household Economics, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Labor and Human Capital, F22, J61, R23, |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:55363&r=mig |
| By: | Rodriguez, Francisco; Wagner, Rodrigo |
| Abstract: | For how long does cultural heritage persist? Do the culturally inherited values of immigrants dilute as generations pass? We answer these question by studying the relationship between revealed political behavior of immigrant families and the culture of the place where they migrated from, either one or many generations ago. Using surnames as indicators of region of origin of Italians in Venezuela, we study the effect of cultural heritage on two indicators of revealed political behavior: (i) propensity for civic engagement, and (ii) propensity for redistribution. A well established literature documents greater propensity for civic engagement and lower propensity for redistribution among Northern Italians. In Venezuela, we measure the former by turnout before the era of political polarization and the latter by signing behavior against Hugo Chávez in the 2004 recall referendum drive. Despite the fact that the wave of Italian immigration to Venezuela occurred more than half a century before the events studied in this paper, we do not find a greater propensity for civic engagement nor preference against redistribution among descendants from Northern as opposed to Southern Italians, suggesting that cultural assimilation may be a strong determinant of political behavior in the long run. |
| Keywords: | Social capital; political incorporation of immigrants; family economics; redistribution; political preferences; civic engagement; Latin America |
| JEL: | F22 Z1 P26 |
| Date: | 2009–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19223&r=mig |
| By: | Hamel, Jean-Yves |
| Abstract: | Surveying existing literature, this paper starts by identifying links between attainments in human development and the presence of ICTs. The research then looks at instances where ICTs affect the opportunity for migration and how they affect its outcomes. We will see how migrants are making use of ICTs and the importance that these technologies have come to occupy in their life. Attempting to illustrate both positive and negative implications of the roles of ICTs in human mobility, this paper surveys research that demonstrates how ICTs are used in both regular and irregular migration, in maintaining family relations, in sustaining cultural identities, and in supporting a family from abroad. We will see that ICTs have not replaced older forms of communication but that they have greatly increased the range of available options for communications. Throughout the text, this paper also includes the roles of governments and civil society in working to increase access and use of ICTs while also making mention of instances where they actively pursue the opposite. As we will see, the skills necessary for use of ICTs and the infrastructure necessary for their access can be found in all countries of the world, albeit in unequal distribution. |
| Keywords: | information and communication technologies; diaspora; migration |
| JEL: | F22 J6 O15 D8 |
| Date: | 2009–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19175&r=mig |
| By: | Chappell, Laura; Glennie, Alex |
| Abstract: | It is becoming increasingly clear that migration can have important impacts upon development. As a result, policymakers are searching for ways to increase migration’s developmental benefits, and decrease its costs. This paper examines the levers at their disposal. We recognise the importance of the policy instruments which receive the most attention – migration policy (especially rules about entry and exit) and development policy (in particular migration’s place in national development strategies and donor cooperation policies). However, we suggest that to maximise benefits and minimise costs, policy thinking must be broadened and made more coherent. We set out in a systematic manner the ways in which migration impacts upon development. We then analyse how the process of migration and development creates those impacts, and suggest where policy can intervene in the process to improve outcomes. We illustrate our analysis with a number of policy case studies. |
| Keywords: | migration; development; policy |
| JEL: | O15 E6 |
| Date: | 2009–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19191&r=mig |
| By: | Luthria, Manjula |
| Abstract: | Most small fragile states have their own unique circumstances that predispose them to social conflict or frequent economic disruptions. These disruptions end up imposing a large cost on regional neighbours and on the international community more broadly. Therefore the development community is in search of ways to reduce the risk of conflict but this search has proved elusive thus far. This paper explores the potential for migration to serve as a safety valve as well as a medium term strategy for employment creation in conflict-prone states. It draws together the analytical and empirical arguments needed to make the case for enhancing the labour mobility options for these vulnerable populations. |
| Keywords: | Fragile states; export diversification; small states; migration; remittances |
| JEL: | F22 O15 F24 |
| Date: | 2009–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19238&r=mig |
| By: | Chowdhury,, Shyamal; Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq; Bryan, Gharad |
| Abstract: | The rural northwestern districts of Bangladesh, home to 10 million people, experience a preharvest seasonal famine, locally known as Monga, with disturbing regularity. Surprisingly, outmigration from the Monga-prone districts is not all that common. This research tests whether migration could play any role in Monga mitigation. We implemented a randomized intervention that provided monetary incentives to individuals in Monga-prone regions to seasonally outmigrate during the pre-harvest season. We experimentally varied the conditionalities attached to the incentives, such as a requirement to form a group and migrate jointly (as opposed to migrating individually), sometimes assigning migration partners and the destination, and varying group size. This paper reports just the first stage results of this randomized intervention project, where we focus on household responsiveness to our incentive offers in terms of their decision to migrate. Our cash and credit incentives had a very large effect on migration propensity: over 40% of those receiving an incentive choose to migrate, whereas only 13% of control households do. This large effect is consistent with the presence of savings or borrowing constraints for these households, since providing information on wages and employment conditions at destinations only has a negligible 2 percentage point impact on the propensity to migrate relative to the control group. |
| Keywords: | Monga; famine; Bangladesh; migration |
| JEL: | O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2009–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19224&r=mig |
| By: | Tabar, Paul |
| Abstract: | This paper takes Lebanon as a case study to examine the relationship between human development and immigration. It examines this issue from both ends: the sending and the receiving countries. The author suggests that by developing the concept of a diasporic civil society and a diasporic public sphere, a significant aspect of the relationship between human development and immigration is illuminated especially at the level of political, social and cultural capitals. The paper also argues that the double impact of the home country and that of destination has a lot to say about the influence of immigration on human development in Lebanon. In examining Australia as a destination country, the paper shows the particular impact that globalisation and September 11 have lately had on the capacity of the Lebanese migrants for human development. Finally, the paper concludes by showing the extent to which the diasporic civil society compensates for the ‘negligent’ character of the Lebanese state in the context of human development. |
| Keywords: | Lebanese diaspora; human development; diasporic civil society; diasporic public sphere; economic and social capitals |
| JEL: | O15 |
| Date: | 2009–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19219&r=mig |
| By: | McHale, John; Rogers, Keith |
| Abstract: | There is growing international interest in a Canadian-style points system for selecting economic immigrants. Although existing points systems have been influenced by the human capital literature, the findings have traditionally been incorporated in an ad hoc way. This paper explores a formal method for designing a points system based on a human capital earnings regression for predicting immigrant economic success. The method is implemented for Canada using the IMDB, a remarkable longitudinal database that combines information on immigrants’ characteristics at landing with their subsequent income performance as reported on tax returns. We demonstrate the feasibility of the method by developing an illustrative points system. We also explore how the selection system can be improved by incorporating additional information such as country-of origin characteristics and intended occupations. We discuss what our findings imply for the debate about the relative merits of points- and employment-based systems for selecting economic immigrants. |
| Keywords: | Immigrant selection, Points system, Human capital, Earnings prediction |
| JEL: | F22 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2009–11–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2009-64&r=mig |
| By: | Miguel, Edward; Hamory, Joan |
| Abstract: | This study exploits a new longitudinal dataset to examine selective migration among 1,500 Kenyan youth originally living in rural areas. We examine whether migration rates are related to individual “ability”, broadly defined to include cognitive aptitude as well as health, and then use these estimates to determine how much of the urban-rural wage gap in Kenya is due to selection versus actual productivity differences. Whereas previous empirical work has focused on schooling attainment as a proxy for cognitive ability, we employ an arguably preferable measure, a pre-migration primary school academic test score. Pre-migration randomized assignment to a deworming treatment program provides variation in health status. We find a positive relationship between both measures of human capital (cognitive ability and deworming) and subsequent migration, though only the former is robust at standard statistical significance levels. Specifically, an increase of two standard deviations in academic test score increases the likelihood of rural-urban migration by 17%. Accounting for migration selection due to both cognitive ability and schooling attainment does not explain more than a small fraction of the sizeable urban-rural wage gap in Kenya, suggesting that productivity differences across sectors remain large. |
| Keywords: | Migration; selection; human capital; ability; urban-rural wage gap; productivity |
| JEL: | O15 C33 |
| Date: | 2009–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19228&r=mig |
| By: | Ortega, Daniel E. |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a framework and estimates of Enrollment Rates per natural and combines them with previous Income and Child Mortality per natural estimates by Clemens and Pritchett (2008) to produce a Human Development Index Per Natural. The methodology is applied for 1990 and 2000 to provide estimates of growth rates of this measure over the period. The paper also develops and illustrates a framework for estimating an education place premium, and discusses how it is related to per natural measures. The peoples of the least developed countries stand to gain the most from international migration, but there are potentially significant gains to migration between developing countries as well. |
| Keywords: | Migration; Human Development; Education |
| JEL: | F22 O24 O15 |
| Date: | 2009–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19232&r=mig |
| By: | Clemens, Michael A. |
| Abstract: | Large numbers of doctors, engineers, and other skilled workers from developing counties choose to move to other countries. Do their choices threaten development? The answer appears so obvious that their movement is most commonly known by the pejorative term “brain drain”. This paper reconsiders the question starting from the most mainstream, explicit definitions of “development”. Under these definitions, it is only possible to advance development by regulating skilled workers’ choices if that regulation greatly expands the substantive freedoms of others to meet their basic needs and live the lives they wish. Much existing evidence and some new evidence suggests that regulating skilled-worker mobility itself does nothing to address the underlying causes of skilled migrants’ choices, generally brings few benefits to others, and instead brings diverse unintended harm. The paper concludes with examples of effective ways that developing countries can build a skill base for development without regulating human movement. The mental shift required to take these policies seriously would be aided by dropping the sententious term “brain drain” in favor of the neutral, accurate, and concise term “skill flow”. |
| Keywords: | skill; talent; professional; educated; graduate; degree; labor; global |
| JEL: | O15 J0 |
| Date: | 2009–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19186&r=mig |
| By: | de Bruijn, Bart |
| Abstract: | In the study of international mobility, refugees make up a very specific population. In contrast to most migrants, forcibly displaced persons have little opportunity for expanding livelihoods, and are usually faced with realities that deny them a dignified life and fulfilment of their capabilities. In many situations, people who left their homes to escape from persecution, armed conflict or violence face restrictive policies of the countries in which they found refuge and become critically dependent on humanitarian assistance. This paper describes living conditions and wellbeing of refugees – and more particularly camp-based refugees – in six countries with protracted refugee conditions: Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya in Africa, and Nepal, Bangladesh and Thailand in Asia. It primarily draws on UNHCR’s ‘Standards and Indicators’ data. Thematic areas covered in the paper include legal protection, gender-related issues, food security and nutritional status, health, education, and refugee livelihoods and coping strategies. The assessment of refugees’ living conditions proceeds along two different perspectives. The first is a gap analysis based on UNHCR standards, which are largely in line with SPHERE standards. The second is a comparison of refugees’ living conditions with those of host populations in the country of asylum and with those of populations on the country of origin. The available data lead to the conclusion that the living conditions of refugees vary across thematic areas and are strongly contextualised, depending on a complex of social, economic, political and attitudinal factors. There is also evidence that despite often grim conditions, at times the targeted efforts of humanitarian assistance and own coping strategies produce situations for refugees that are relatively better than that of the local hosting communities or the population in the region of origin. |
| Keywords: | Refugees; displacement; living conditions; livelihoods; protection; UNHCR |
| JEL: | O15 I3 |
| Date: | 2009–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19208&r=mig |
| By: | Pfau, Wade Donald; Giang, Thanh Long |
| Abstract: | During a time of rapid economic transformation in Vietnam, we examine two possibilities for elderly support: living together with children and receiving remittances. Our analysis uses four household surveys conducted in Vietnam between 1992 and 2004. With the highly detailed 1997/98 survey, we find that 73.1 percent of Vietnamese elderly are living with children and 34.8 percent were either receiving remittances directly or married to a recipient. From our logistic regression analysis, we can further determine that living with children and remittances both serve continuing roles for elderly support, and our findings suggest that expanding the pension system in Vietnam can potentially play an important role in reducing elderly poverty without crowding out these other support mechanisms. |
| Keywords: | Elderly; Vietnam; Welfare; Remittances |
| JEL: | F24 |
| Date: | 2009–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19121&r=mig |
| By: | Kundu, Amitabh |
| Abstract: | The present paper overviews urbanisation and migration process in Asian countries at macro level since 1950s, including the projections made till 2030. It questions the thesis of southward movement of urbanisation and that of urban explosion in Asia. Increased unaffordability of urban space and basic amenities, negative policy perspective towards migration and various rural development pogrammes designed to discourage migration are responsible for this exclusionary urban growth and a distinct decline in urban rural growth differential, with the major exception of China. The changing structure of urban population across different size categories reveals a shift of growth dynamics from large to second order cities and stagnation of small towns. The pace of urbanization has been modest to high in select countries in Asia, not because of their level of economic growth but its composition and labour intensity of rapidly growing informal sectors. Several countries have launched programmes for improving governance and infrastructural facilities in a few large cities, attracting private investors from within as well as outside the country. These have pushed out squatter settlements, informal sector businesses along with a large number of pollutant industries to a few pockets and peripheries of the cities. The income level and quality of basic amenities in these cities, as a result, have gone up but that has been associated with increased intra-city disparity and creation of degenerated periphery. Nonetheless, there is no strong evidence that urbanization is associated with destabilization of agrarian economy, poverty and immiserisation, despite the measures of globalization resulting in regional imbalances. The overview of the trend and pattern suggests that the pace of urbanization would be reasonably high but much below the level projected by UNPD in the coming decades. |
| Keywords: | urbanisation; migration; exclusion; periphery; informalisation; small towns; economic concentration; urban rural growth differential; Asia; China and India |
| JEL: | O15 P25 N95 |
| Date: | 2009–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19197&r=mig |
| By: | Risse, Mathias |
| Abstract: | Often, immigration debates are conducted under the presumption that immigration policies must be justifiable only to those who already live in the respective country. Alas, reflection on the justifiability of immigration policies to those excluded becomes ever more important in a politically and economically increasingly interconnected world. This study explores two approaches to the normative reflection on immigration at some depth, namely, the idea that restrictive immigration policies are problematic because they are hampering the development of human capabilities, as well as the idea that such policies are problematic because they are at odds with the fact that our planet belongs to humanity collectively. On both of these proposals, less restrictive immigration policies are not merely demanded as one possible way of aiding the poor, but would be required as such. Both of these approaches can be treated within the same framework, the grounds-of-justice framework, which allows us to focus on the idea that states must also be justified to those who do not belong to them. Central to the proposal about immigration that can be made within this approach are ideas of over- and under-use of commonly owned resources and spaces. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; justice; capabilities; common ownership of the earth; resources |
| JEL: | O15 |
| Date: | 2009–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19218&r=mig |
| By: | Ha, Wei; Yi, Junjian; Zhang, Junsen |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effects of both permanent and temporary emigration on human capital formation and economic growth of the source regions. To achieve this end, this paper explores the Chinese provincial panel data from 1980 to 2005. First, the fixed effects model is employed to estimate the effect of emigration on school enrollment rates in the source regions. Relative to this aspect, we find that the magnitude (scale) of permanent emigrants (measured by the permanent emigration ratio) is conducive to the improvement of both middle and high schools enrollments. In contrast, the magnitude of temporary emigrants has a significantly positive effect on middle school enrollment but does not have a significant effect on high school enrollment. More interestingly, different educational attainments of temporary emigrants have different effects on school enrollment. Specifically, the share of temporary emigrants with high school education positively affects middle school enrollment, while the share of temporary emigrants with middle school education negatively affects high school enrollment. Second, the instrumental variable method is applied to estimate the effect of emigration on economic growth within the framework of system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). The estimation results suggest that both permanent and temporary emigrations have a detrimental effect on the economic growth of the source regions. Our empirical tests provide some new evidence to the "brain drain" debate, which has recently received increasing attention. |
| Keywords: | Brain drain; human capital; emigration; economic growth |
| JEL: | O15 J22 J24 O12 |
| Date: | 2009–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19221&r=mig |
| By: | Sprietsma, Maresa |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of teacher expectations on essay grades in an experimental setting. To this purpose, we randomly assign Turkish or German first names to a set of essays so that some teachers believe a given essay was written by a German native pupil, whereas others believe it was written by a pupil of Turkish origin. We find that essays obtain significantly lower grades and lower secondary school recommendations when bearing a Turkish sounding name. -- |
| Keywords: | Experiment,discrimination,grading,pupils with migration,background |
| JEL: | I20 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:09074&r=mig |
| By: | Nisar Ahmad (School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus, Denmark) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the extent state dependence among unemployed Danish immigrants in a dynamic discrete choice framework. Three alternative methodologies are employed to control for the problem of the initial condition. The empirical findings show that there is a considerable correlation between the unobserved individual heterogeneity and the initial condition and that the degree of state dependence is overstated if we do not address this problem. The results show that an individual who was unemployed at period “t-1” has 6.5 percentage points higher probability of being unemployed again at period t compared to an individual who was employed at period “t-1”. This average partial effect is the same for western compared to non-western immigrants and women compared to men. |
| Keywords: | Immigrants, unemployment, state dependence, unobserved heterogeneity, dynamic random effects models |
| JEL: | J22 C23 C25 |
| Date: | 2009–12–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:aarhec:2009-12&r=mig |