|
on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Aker, Jenny C.; Clemens, Michael A.; Ksoll, Christopher |
| Abstract: | Labor markets in developing countries are subject to a high degree of frictions. We report the results from a randomized evaluation of an adult education program (Project ABC) in Niger, in which students learned how to use simple mobile phones as part of a literacy and numeracy class. Overall, our preliminary results suggest that access to this technology substantially influenced seasonal migration in Niger, increasing the likelihood of migration by at least one household member by 7 percentage points and the number of households' members engaging in seasonal migration. Evidence suggests that there are some heterogeneous impacts of the program, with a higher probability of a household member migrating in one region. These effects do not appear to be driven by differences in observable characteristics of households or differential effects of drought during the survey period. Rather we posit that they are largely explained by the effectiveness of mobile phones as a search technology: Students in ABC villages used mobile phones in more active ways and communicated more with migrants within Niger. These initial results suggest that simple and cheap information technology can be harnessed to affect labor mobility among rural populations. -- |
| JEL: | D83 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:gdec11:2&r=mig |
| By: | Monteleone, Simona (University of Catania, Department of Training Processes); Skonieczny, Giorgio (University of Catania, Dipartimento di Imprese, Culture e Società); Torrisi, Benedetto (University of Catania, Dipartimento di Imprese, Culture e Società) |
| Abstract: | To study the behavior of Italian researchers living in Italy with a view to creating appropriate policies to tackle the brain drain and discourage academics from emigrating, we constructed a survey based on a sample of 4700 Italian researchers (assistant professors) in several universities in Italy. The outlook is far from rosy: Italian researchers are generally dissatisfied with the economic and social situation of the country. Strong family ties represent the element keeping them at home in Italy. In this regard, no particular differences were noted between the North and South of the country. In analyzing the Italian academic system we identified factors that have greater weight in driving Italian intellectual talent to emigrate: the country’s higher education system leaves all dissatisfied. Furthermore, we discovered other factors that, albeit weak, keep Italian researchers in Italy. However, one wonders how much longer family and national ties will be able to keep Italian skilled agents in Italy, and whether such dissatisfaction may jeopardize the country’s future economic development. |
| Keywords: | Skilled migration; pull and push factors; academic system; geographical distribution |
| JEL: | F22 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2011–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:demqwp:2011_001&r=mig |
| By: | Martinho, Vítor João Pereira Domingues |
| Abstract: | This work aims mainly to present a project of research about the identification of the determinants that affect the mobility of labor. The empirical part of the work will be performed for the NUTS II and NUTS III of Portugal, from 1996 to 2002 and for 1991 and 2001, respectively (given the availability of statistical data). As main conclusion it can be said, for the NUTS II (1996-2002), which is confirmed the existence of some labor mobility in Portugal and that regional mobility is mainly influenced positively by the output growth and negatively by the unemployment rates and by the weight of the agricultural sector. NUTS III level (1991 and 2001) is something similar, but with this level of spatial disaggregation (and in this period) the basic equipment (amenities), particularly in terms of availability of housing, are the main determinants of migration. |
| Keywords: | net migration; Portuguese regions; panel and cross-section estimations. |
| JEL: | C23 J61 C21 R11 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32311&r=mig |
| By: | Amare, Mulubrhan; Hohfeld, Lena; Waibel, Hermann |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the effects of rural urban migration on economic development in Thailand. It draws upon a panel data base of some 2000 rural households collected from 2007 to 2010 in three provinces from Northeast Thailand and migrant survey of some 650 migrants in the Greater Bangkok area conducted in 2010. The study offers some new findings on migration in Thailand. First there is evidence that the widely praised social protection policies for the rural poor in Thailand may be less effective for urban migrants. Second, the study shows that migration has benefits for income growth of rural households but is less effective in reducing inequality and relative poverty in rural areas. Generally the less favored rural households tend to have migrants who are more educated albeit at an overall low education level of the rural population in Thailand. The overall message which emerges from this paper is that poor rural households tend to produce poor migrants which could be one of the reasons for the continuous existence of a wide rural urban divide in welfare. The crucial importance of education for migration success calls for more investment in secondary education in rural areas. -- |
| Keywords: | Rural Urban Migration,Thailand,Employment Quality |
| JEL: | O15 O53 I3 J81 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:gdec11:4&r=mig |
| By: | Czaika, Mathias |
| Abstract: | This study disentangles the effects of feelings of relative deprivation and the capability of households in realizing their migration aspirations. For this purpose we decompose the concept of relative deprivation into intra-group and inter-group relative deprivation and test their relative importance together with levels of absolute deprivation in shaping migration decisions on a household level. The migration decision itself is modelled as a two stage process which allows separating the decision on whether to migrate at all, and the decision where to migrate in terms of an internal or international destination. This study concentrates on migration in contemporary India, a country with about 20 million Indians living abroad and around 180 million people enumerated as internal migrants. The empirical analysis is based on a unique dataset based on the recent 64th round of the Indian National Sample Survey (NSS). This large dataset covers around 125,000 households and about 100,000 former household members enumerated as out-migrants. We hypothesize that feelings of relative deprivation have different effects on the choice of destination when controlled for alternative reference groups and group identifications. We identify the following factors as relevant in this migration decision-making process: First, intra-group as well as inter-group relative deprivations are strong predictors only for short distance intra-state movements. On contrary, the likelihood of out-migration towards international destinations is significantly lower for households with lower levels of intra-group and inter-group relative deprivation. Second, besides the effects of relative deprivation, absolute deprivation plays an ambivalent role: while economically better endowed households have a higher migration propensity to send (primarily male) migrants to distant inter-state and international destinations, the inverse is true for moves of shorter distance that are mainly dominated by (female) migrants stemming from poorer households. -- |
| Keywords: | Relative deprivation,internal and international migration,India |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:gdec11:21&r=mig |
| By: | Vincent Fromentin; (CEREFIGE); ; |
| Abstract: | This article examines the relationships of substitutability and complementarity between native workers and immigrants in France, depending on skill level, using a translog production function. We analyze the impact of immigrant workers on employment and wages of native workers by taking into account the interrelations between all factors. In general, there is a relationship of complementarity between immigrant workers and native workers, although high and intermediate-skilled migrant workers are respectively substitutable for intermediate and low-skilled native workers. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Substitutability, Production Function, Employment, Wages |
| JEL: | J61 C39 D24 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fie:wpaper:1105&r=mig |
| By: | Fatma MABROUK (GREThA, CNRS, UMR 5113) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to analyze the theories of international return migration, we try to take the different approaches of return migration and to develop an empirically study on the main characteristics of return migration of the three countries of the Maghreb: Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. This is a micro-economic approach based on the original data recently published by the project « REturn MIgration to the Maghreb». The conceptual framework of returnees is reviewed using a data analysis, and taking into account a set of criteria. The application of multiple components analysis leads to the formation of a typology based on a set of variables. Profiles derived by the hierarchical ascending classification correspond to the characteristics of return migration from Maghreb to Europe. |
| Keywords: | Return migration, development of origin’s countries, multiple components analysis, Maghreb |
| JEL: | C81 F22 F24 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2011-29&r=mig |
| By: | Senne, Jean-Noel; Chort, Isabelle; Gubert, Flore |
| Abstract: | The economic literature provides much evidence of the positive impacts of social capital on migrants' economic outcomes, in particular through assistance upon arrival and insurance in times of hardship. Yet, although much less documented, migrant networks may well have a great influence on migrants' remittances to their home country and particularly to their origin household. Given all the services provided by the network, the fear of being ostracized by its members and being left with no support system could then provide an additional incentive for migrants to commit to prevailing remittances behavior, as an affirmation of their community membership. In this paper, we thus analyze to what extent migrant networks in the destination country influence the degree to which migrants meet the claims of those left behind. We first develop a simple principal-agent model in which remittances are the result of a contractual agreement between the migrant and his origin household and the network works as an enforcement device. We thus depart from existing models of motives for remitting which generally do not account for the close-knit networks migrants are embedded in. We then use an original data set covering Senegalese migrants residing in France and Italy to test the main predictions of our model. -- |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:gdec11:73&r=mig |
| By: | Ambrosius, Christian |
| Abstract: | In policy discussions, it has frequently been claimed that migrants' remittances could function as a 'catalyst' for financial access among receiving households. This paper provides empirical evidence on this hypothesis from Mexico, a main receiver of remittances worldwide. Using the Mexican Family Life Survey panel (MxFLS) for 2002 and 2005, the results from the treatment-effect-model at household level show that a change in remittance status has an important impact on ownership of savings accounts and the availability of borrowing options. This effect is significant for rural, but not for urban households and important for microfinance institutions, but not for traditional banks. -- |
| Keywords: | Remittances,Mexico,Financial Access,Microfinance |
| JEL: | G21 O16 F24 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:gdec11:5&r=mig |
| By: | Sami Ben Mim (ERUDITE); Fatma Mabrouk (GREThA, CNRS, UMR 5113) |
| Abstract: | This article examines the effect of remittances on economic growth, highlighting the main transmission channels. Using the SGMM method, estimates based on data from 27 developing countries show that remittances have a positive and significant effect on economic growth. The results don’t allow drawing any definitive conclusion concerning the investment channel, but confirm that the remittances speed up the accumulation of human capital, and thereby stimulate growth. The human capital channel has also an indirect effect on growth through investment. |
| Keywords: | Migration, remittances, economic growth, investment, panel data |
| JEL: | C33 F22 F24 F43 O16 O40 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2011-28&r=mig |