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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Ritha Sukadi Mata |
| Abstract: | This paper is devoted to the analysis of liquidity risk in microfinance. Using a re-sampling method, we estimate withdrawal rate distributions for migrants’ and locals’ deposits, using an original database of 7,828 deposit contracts issued between 2002 and 2008 by 12 village banks belonging to a major Malian rural microfinance network (PASECA-Kayes). Results show that migrants tend more than locals to default on their deposit contracts. The deposits at risk are also higher when considering migrants’ time deposits compared to locals’ deposits. The liquidity risk associated to migrants’ deposits is then higher compared to locals’ deposits. The article gives an insight on the opportunity migrants’ money (including remittances) could represent for the microfinance industry as a source of stable medium- and long-term funds. |
| Keywords: | Liquidity risk; Deposits withdrawals; Migrants; Microfinance |
| JEL: | G21 G32 O16 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/87913&r=mig |
| By: | Elizabeth Powers |
| Abstract: | This paper uses data from the Mexican Family Life Survey to estimate the impact of a household member’s migration to the United States on the cognitive development of children remaining in Mexico. While there is no developmental effect of a child’s sibling migrating to the United States, there is an adverse effect when another household member—typically the child’s parent—migrates. This is particularly true for pre-school to early-school-age children with older siblings, for whom the effect of parental migration is comparable to speaking an indigenous language at home or having a mother with very low educational attainment. Additionally, household-member migration to the United States affects how children spend their time in ways that may influence and/or be influenced by cognitive development. |
| JEL: | I12 I38 J11 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:wpaper:4721&r=mig |
| By: | Hercog, Metka (Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, Maastricht University); Siegel, Melissa (Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | Migration of skilled workers from developing countries has increased substantially in recent years. Traditionally, such patterns raised fears on the ground of the associated 'brain drain' as human capital formation is considered to be of central importance to the development and reduction of poverty levels. Therefore, any loss of skilled workers through migration was considered harmful to the achievement of development goals. In contrast, the new body of literature emphasizes the positive incentive and feedback effects which skilled migration has on sending countries' development as well as on other stakeholders. While most papers on the impacts of migration on development focus on remittances and low-skilled migration, we emphasize the effects of skilled return migrants which bring about the transfer of knowledge and skills. This paper examines five levels of policy concerning the mobility of skilled workers. Because of their differing positions, we examine the position of sending and receiving countries with regard to skilled migration separately. We look at receiving country policies, sending country policies, bilateral approaches, regional approaches and global approaches. This paper first explores what options are theoretically discussed at the five levels of analysis. Secondly, we observe what kinds of policies are actually used in practice and which policies show some evidence of success. We also systematically discuss the advantages and disadvantages (or limitations) of each policy option. |
| Keywords: | return migration, highly skilled, migration, immigration, skilled migration, developing countries, human capital, skills |
| JEL: | J24 O15 O33 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2011015&r=mig |
| By: | John Gibson (University of Waikato); David Mckenzie (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | Australia launched the Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme in August 2008. This program was designed to alleviate labor shortages for the Australian horticultural industry by providing opportunities for workers from Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, and Vanuatu to undertake seasonal work. This paper presents an analysis of the development impacts of this program in the first two years, and compares them to those from New Zealand’s seasonal worker program in the same countries. The overall development impact of the scheme to date is small, since only 215 individuals participated in the program in the first two years. We examine the selection of these workers, finding they tend to come from poorer areas of Tonga, but within these locations, appear to be of average income levels, and indeed are similar in many respects to the workers going to New Zealand. We estimate the gain per participating household to be approximately A$2,600, which is a 39 percent increase in per-capita annual income in participating Tongan households. The aggregate impact to date is small, but the experience of New Zealand’s program shows that seasonal worker programs can potentially have large aggregate effects. Finally, we provide some evidence on worker’s opinions about the program. |
| Keywords: | development impacts; seasonal migration; Pacific Islands |
| JEL: | O12 J61 F22 |
| Date: | 2011–06–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:11/09&r=mig |
| By: | Suzan van der Pas (VU University Medical Center, EMGO Institute – LASA); Jacques Poot (National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis, University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the dynamics of Dutch community change in New Zealand since 1950. The Netherlands has been the largest source country of migrants from continental Europe to New Zealand, but by 2006 40 percent of the Netherlands born were aged 65 or older. We find that there are three distinct cohorts of these migrants, each covering roughly 20 years of arrivals: a large cohort of post-war migrants (those who arrived in the 1950s and 1960s), and much smaller cohorts of skilled migrants (those who arrived in the 1970s and 1980s), and transnational professionals (those who arrived in the 1990s or more recently). Early migrants were mostly younger on arrival, more religious, less educated and had more children than the subsequent cohorts. More recent migrants are increasingly highly qualified and in high-skill occupations. “Dutch Kiwis” are more geographically dispersed than other immigrants, and more recent arrivals are relatively more often located in rural areas. This transformation of the Dutch community in New Zealand can be linked to global and New Zealand/Netherlands specific changes that have conditioned the character and volume of the migrant flows and the dynamics of migrant community development. |
| Keywords: | globalisation, push and pull factors of migration, ageing of migrant communities, migrant integration, cohort analysis |
| JEL: | F22 J61 Z13 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:201112&r=mig |
| By: | Siegel, Melissa (Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, Maastricht University); Neubourg, Chris de (Unicef, and Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | Immigrant access to social protection in the Netherlands has changed quite markedly over time. This paper discusses the changes from an historical perspective and introduces a theoretical framework (the Welfare Pentagon) explaining how immigrants cope with (economic) hardship when they do not have access to formal social protection. The relationship between migrants and social protection in the Netherlands has been and still is marked by asymmetries in entitlements and contributions (taxes). Shifting notions of fairness throughout time to both documented and undocumented migrants are noticed and interpreted. |
| Keywords: | immigration, migration, social protection, social security |
| JEL: | H55 O15 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2011014&r=mig |
| By: | Theodore Palivos (Department of Economics, University of Macedonia); Jianpo Xue (School of Finance, Renmin University of China, Beijing); Chong K. Yip (Department of Economics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a growth model with illegal immigration in which there exist two types of domestic labor, skilled and unskilled. These two types enter the production via a CES aggregator. In a similar manner, the paper also allows for the possibility of imperfect substitution between native and immigrant labor. Within such a framework it analyzes the eects of an increase in immigration on the average capital stock, individual wages, asset holdings and the distribution of wealth. Contrary to previous results in the literature, the paper shows that illegal immigration may not necessarily make the distribution of wealth more unequal and unskilled labor worse o. This is so because the end results depend on the elasticities of substitution between dierent types of labor. Thus, assuming erroneously that immigrants and natives are perfect substitutes could lead to results that are not only over-estimated but also of the wrong sign. |
| Keywords: | Illegal Immigration, Economic Growth, Income Distribution, Factor Sub- stitution. |
| JEL: | O41 F22 E25 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcd:mcddps:2011_10&r=mig |
| By: | Muysken, Joan (Department of Economics, Maastricht University); Ziesemer, Thomas (UNU-MERIT and Department of Economics, Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that immigration can help to alleviate the burden ageing presents for the welfare states of most Western Economies. We develop a macroeconomic framework which deals with the impact of both ageing and immigration on economic growth. This is combined with a detailed model of the labour market, to include the interaction with lowskilled unemployment. The empirical relevance of some crucial model assumptions is shown to hold for the Netherlands, 1973 – 2007. The conclusions are that immigration will help to alleviate the ageing problem, as long as the immigrants will be able to participate in the labour force at least as much as the native population. Moreover, the better educated the immigrants are or become, the higher their contribution to growth will be. |
| Keywords: | ageing population, immigration, unemployment, skills |
| JEL: | E24 F22 O15 O52 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2011012&r=mig |
| By: | Bichaka Fayissa; Christian Nsiah |
| Abstract: | This study estimates the macroeconomic impact of remittances and some control variables such as openness of the economy, capital/labor ratio, and economic freedom on the economic growth of African, Asian, and Latin American-Caribbean countries using newly developed panel unit-root tests, cointegration tests, and Panel Fully Modified OLS (PFMOLS). We use annual panel data from 1985- 2007for 64 countries consisting of 29 from Africa, 14 from Asia, and 21 from Latin America and the Caribbean region, respectively. We find that remittances, openness of the economy, and capital labor ratio have positive and significant effect on economic growth for all regions as a group and in each of the three in study. While the economic freedom index also has a positive and significant effect on growth in Africa and Latin America, however, its effect on the economic growth of Asia is mixed. |
| Keywords: | Workers’ Remittances, Economic Growth, Unit-Root tests, Error Correction Model, PFMOLS, Panel Data, Africa, Asia, Latin America/Caribbean |
| JEL: | E21 F21 G22 J61 O16 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mts:wpaper:201103&r=mig |
| By: | Xavier Chojnicki; Lionel Ragot |
| Abstract: | L’immigration est souvent avancee comme l’un des instruments d’adaptation des economies confrontees au phenomene du vieillissement demographique. Dans cet article, nous evaluons, a l’aide d’un modele d’equilibre general calculable dynamique, la contribution d’une politique migratoire a la reduction du fardeau fiscal lie au vieillissement demographique en France. Quatre variantes, par rapport a un scenario central qui reprend les projections officielles pour la France (INSEE, COR....), sont realisees, avec pour objectif de quantifier au mieux les effets de l’immigration sur les finances de la protection sociale. La premiere consiste a evaluer les effets economiques de l’immigration en France telle qu’elle est projetee dans ces previsions officielles. Les trois autres sont construites sur l’hypothese d’un flux annuel d’immigres plus eleve (correspondant aux flux qui ont caracterises la deuxieme grande vague d’immigration en France au XXeme siecle). Elles se differencient par le niveau de qualification des nouveaux entrants. Nous montrons que la structure par qualification et par age des immigres est une caracteristique essentielle qui determine en grande partie les principaux effets sur les finances de la protection sociale. Globalement ceux-ci sont positifs et le sont d’autant plus, a court moyen-terme, que la politique migratoire est selective (en faveur des plus qualifies). A long-terme ces effets benefiques peuvent disparaitre pour une politique tres selective. Cependant, les gains pour les finances publiques provenant de flux migratoires nets plus consequents sont relativement moderes en comparaison des evolutions demographiques qu’ils impliquent. |
| Keywords: | immigration; MEGC; générations imbriquées; vieillissement; finances publiques; protection sociale |
| JEL: | C68 D58 E60 H55 H68 J61 |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2011-13&r=mig |