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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Russell S. Sobel (Department of Economics, West Virginia University); Nabamita Dutta (Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse); Sanjukta Roy (Department of Economics, West Virginia University) |
| Abstract: | In the economic development literature, cultural diversity (for example, ethnolinguistic fractionalization) has been shown to have a negative impact on economic outcomes in many underdeveloped countries. We hypothesize that the impact of diversity on economic performance depends on the quality of a country's institutions. Under bad institutions diversity leads to conflict and expropriation, while under good institutions diversity leads to economic progress. A culturally diverse society or interaction among different cultures encourages exchange of, and competition between ideas and different world views. Under good institutions, this amalgamation of ideas and views leads to greater entrepreneurial initiatives. We show that higher levels of cultural diversity increase the rate of entrepreneurship in the presence of good institutions using evidence from the United States. |
| Keywords: | Cultural Diversity; Entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | L26 P12 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wvu:wpaper:10-12&r=mig |
| By: | Ingrid Gould Ellen; Katherine M. O'Regan |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether the economic gains experienced by low-income neighborhoods in the 1990s followed patterns of classic gentrification (as frequently assumed) – that is, through the in migration of higher income white, households, and out migration (or displacement) of the original lower income, usually minority residents, spurring racial transition in the process. Using the internal Census version of the American Housing Survey, we find no evidence of heightened displacement, even among the most vulnerable, original residents. While the entrance of higher income households was an important source of income gains, original residents also experienced differential gains in income, and reported greater increases in their satisfaction with their neighborhood than found in other low-income neighborhoods. Finally, gaining neighborhoods were able to avoid the losses of white households that non-gaining low income tracts experienced, and were thereby more racially stable rather than less. |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:10-19&r=mig |
| By: | Terra McKinnish; T. Kirk White |
| Abstract: | This paper uses confidential Census data, specifically the 1990 and 2000 Census Long Form data, to study the income dispersion of recent cohorts of migrants to mixed-income neighborhoods. If recent in-migrants to mixed-income neighborhoods exhibit high levels of income heterogeneity, this is consistent with stable mixed-income neighborhoods. If, however, mixed-income neighborhoods are comprised of older homogeneous lower-income (higher income) cohorts combined with newer homogeneous higher-income (lower-income) cohorts, this is consistent with neighborhood transition. Our results indicate that neighborhoods with high levels of income dispersion do in fact attract a much more heterogeneous set of in-migrants, particularly from the tails of the income distribution, but that income heterogeneity does tend to erode over time. Our results also suggest that the residents of mixed-income neighborhoods may be less heterogeneous with respect to lifetime income. |
| Date: | 2010–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:10-18&r=mig |
| By: | Boudarbat, Brahim; Lemieux, Thomas |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we show that the decline in the relative wages of immigrants in Canada is far from homogenous over different points of the wage distribution. The well-documented decline in the immigrant-Canadian born mean wage gap hides a much larger decline at the low end of the wage distribution, while the gap hardly changed at the top end of the distribution. Using standard OLS regressions and new unconditional quantile regressions, we show that both the changes in the mean wage gap and in the gap at different quantiles are well explained by standard factors such as experience, education, and country of origin of immigrants. Interestingly, the most important source of change in the wages of immigrants relative to the Canadian born is the aging of the baby boom generation that has resulted in a relative increase in the labour market experience, and thus, in the wages, of Canadian born workers relative to immigrants. |
| Keywords: | Canada; Immigration; Wages distribution; Unconditional quantile regression |
| JEL: | J31 J61 C21 |
| Date: | 2010–09–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2010-27&r=mig |
| By: | Sylvain Dessy; Tiana Rambeloma |
| Abstract: | This paper reassesses the case for temporary emigration of unskilled workers as a solution to the child labor problem, based upon a general equilibrium model of migrant remittances, parental investment in child schooling, and intersectoral allocation of capital. Counterfactual simulations uncover a U-shape effect of temporary emigration on the incidence of child labor, suggesting that the case for temporary emigration as a solution to the child labor problem may be weak. |
| Keywords: | Migration, remittances, general equilibrium |
| JEL: | O11 |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:lacicr:1037&r=mig |
| By: | Romano Piras (University of Cagliari) |
| Abstract: | We provide econometric evidence that relative per capita GDP and relative unemployment rates are the main determinants of migration flows across Italian regions from 1970 to 2002. The empirical analysis is based on an accurate study of the dynamic properties of the series. In fact, we deal with the issues of non-stationarity and cointegration and estimate an error correction model in which both the short- and long-run dynamics are modelled at once. The regional unemployment rate is robustly inversely related with net regional migration rate, while per capita GDP is strongly positively linked with it. As far as the accommodating potential of internal migration to regional unbalances, we have detected very little room for such a role. Indeed, the degree of labour mobility across Italian regions cannot be active as an effective equilibrating mechanism. |
| Keywords: | Italy, Labour Migration, Internal Migration, Income Differences, Panel Cointegration |
| JEL: | C23 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2010–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2010.115&r=mig |