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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Jasso, Guillermina (New York University) |
| Abstract: | Migration and stratification are increasingly intertwined. One day soon it will be impossible to understand one without the other. Both focus on life chances. Stratification is about differential life chances – who gets what and why – and migration is about improving life chances – getting more of the good things of life. To examine the interconnections of migration and stratification, we address a mix of old and new questions, carrying out analyses newly enabled by a unique new data set on recent legal immigrants to the United States (the New Immigrant Survey). We look at immigrant processing and lost documents, depression due to the visa process, presentation of self, the race-ethnic composition of an immigrant cohort (made possible by the data for the first time since 1961), black immigration from Africa and the Americas, skin-color diversity among couples formed by U.S. citizen sponsors and immigrant spouses, and English fluency among children age 8-12 and their immigrant parents. We find, inter alia, that children of previously illegal parents are especially more likely to be fluent in English, that native-born U.S. citizen women tend to marry darker, that immigrant applicants who go through the visa process while already in the United States are more likely to have their documents lost and to suffer visa depression, and that immigration, by introducing accomplished black immigrants from Africa (notably via the visa lottery), threatens to overturn racial and skin color associations with skill. Our analyses show the mutual embeddedness of migration and stratification in the unfolding of the immigrants' and their children's life chances and the impacts on the stratification structure of the United States. |
| Keywords: | immigration, immigrant visas, social stratification, gender, race, Hispanic origin, skin color, presentation of self, visa depression, illegal experience, English fluency, spouse selection, children of immigrants, nativity premium, New Immigrant Survey |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J16 J24 K42 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5904&r=mig |
| By: | E. Lance Howe (Department of Economics, University of Alaska Anchorage); Lee Huskey (Department of Economics, University of Alaska Anchorage); Matthew D. Berman (Institute of Social and Economic Research and Department of Economics, University of Alaska Anchorage) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores hypotheses of hierarchical migration using data from the Alaskan Arctic. We focus on migration of Iñupiat people, who are indigenous to the region, and explore the role of income and subsistence harvests on migration. To test related hypotheses we use confidential micro-data from the US Census Bureau’s 2000 Decennial Census of Population and Income and generate migration probabilities using a mixed multinomial and conditional logit model. Our findings are broadly consistent with Ravenstein’s (1885) early hypothesis of step-wise migration; we find evidence of step-wise migration, both up and down an urban and rural hierarchy. We also find that where migrants choose to live is a function of place, personal, and household characteristics. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Hierarchical Migration, Rural to Urban Migration, Arctic Alaska |
| JEL: | J61 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ala:wpaper:2011-03&r=mig |
| By: | López Real, Joel |
| Abstract: | While the immigration policy in the United States is mainly oriented to family reunification, in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. it is a points-based immigration system which main objective is to attract high skilled immigrants. This paper compares both immigration policies through the transition for the United States and Mexico. I find that: (i) the point system increases the average years of the immigrants by 3.5 years; (ii) the Mexican immigrants suffer a 10% reduction in their effective hours of labor when they move to the United States; (iii) migration reduces inequality, more significantly if the immigration policy is the point system and increases output per capita differences between both countries; (iv) the offspring of the immigrants invest more in human capital than the United States natives; (v) the earnings ratio immigrants to the United States natives is lower under the quota system than under the point system but along the transition it reverses converging at the steady state. -- |
| Keywords: | Migration,self-selection,human capital,immigration policies |
| JEL: | E20 F22 J61 O11 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201127&r=mig |
| By: | Uslaner, Eric (Stockholm University Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies - SULCIS) |
| Abstract: | There is a growing concern across the West that diversity (and immigration) has led to a decline in trust and social cohesion. In this working paper, which is based upon the core theoretical chapter of my book under contract to Cambridge University Press, Segregation and Mistrust, I argue that it is not diversity but segregation that drives down trust. I argue that the negative effects of diversity have been overstated, as has the simple idea that contact among people of different backgrounds will build trust. There is stronger evidence for Allport's "optimal contacts," where people have deeper and more frequent contacts based upon a foundation of equality. There is little evidence of a direct link between diverse contacts and trust. Nor is there strong evidence of a negative relationship between diversity and trust. I argue that it is not diversity but residential segregation that drives down trust. To build trust, people must live in neighborhoods that are integrated and diverse-and have heterogenous friendship networks-as Allport and Pettigrew have argued. I show that diversity and segregation are not the same thing and show that segregation leads to both greater inequality and worse outcomes on several measures across American communities and across nations. I also argue that governmental multiculturalism policies reinforce a strong sense of ethnic identity, which leads to high in-group trust at the expense of generalized trust. |
| Keywords: | trust; segregation; diversity; multiculturalism |
| JEL: | A13 Z13 |
| Date: | 2011–08–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sulcis:2011_005&r=mig |
| By: | Michael J. Stebleton, Ronald L. Huesman, Jr., Aliya Kuzhabekova |
| Abstract: | The immigrant college student population will likely continue to increase. This exploratory study addresses the questions: To what extent does sense of belonging/satisfaction of recent immigrant college students differ from non-immigrant college students? Do perceived self-ratings of belonging vary by immigrant generations? This research draws on a new extensive data source, the Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) survey. Survey data from the 2009 SERU is based on the responses from 55,433 undergraduate students from six-large research institutions from across the United States. Findings suggest that immigrant students’ perception of their sense of belonging and satisfaction is significantly lower than their non-immigrant peers’ perceptions. Immigrant college students -- whether they were a recent immigrant that arrived in the country as a child, or arrived later as a teenager or young adult, or are the children of parents born outside the U.S. ( 2nd generation) -- consistently reported lower levels of belonging/satisfaction as compared to their 3rd or 4th generation (i.e., nonimmigrant) peers. Responses within the immigrant generation groups were similar. The following implications were highlighted: effective practice and application strategies for student affairs practitioners and faculty members who work directly with immigrant college students; policy development suggestions for both academic and student affairs administrators; future research inquiries for scholars who are interested in this fast growing population of college students. |
| Keywords: | Education |
| Date: | 2010–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:cshedu:2127926&r=mig |
| By: | Albu, Lucian-Liviu; Ghizdeanu, Ion; Iorgulescu, Raluca |
| Abstract: | The actual global crisis seems to influence negatively the sustainable development in EU countries. At least partially the informal economy escapes from the official registered GDP and hidden migration from the official demographic statistics. This can affect in a significant way the measurement of sustainable development and consequently policies in this field. Coming from general accepted findings of the theory, we concentrate on evaluating the reasons of agents to be involved in hidden economy and estimating the size of this part of economy. Today, there are evidences of a tendency to extended hidden migration together with an increasing official migration usually from eastern EU members to western countries. In a sense, hidden migration could be in relation with informal economy. Using some indirect procedures, we try to estimate the size of hidden migration and its impact on the official side of economy and its potential growth in the future. The main application of the developed methodology is in case of Romania. |
| Keywords: | informal income; inactive population; emigration potential; hidden migration |
| JEL: | F22 C13 C51 O17 |
| Date: | 2011–06–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32810&r=mig |
| By: | Molloy, Raven (Federal Reserve Board of Governors); Smith, Christopher L. (Federal Reserve Board of Governors); Wozniak, Abigail (University of Notre Dame) |
| Abstract: | We review patterns in migration within the US over the past thirty years. Internal migration has fallen noticeably since the 1980s, reversing increases from earlier in the century. The decline in migration has been widespread across demographic and socioeconomic groups, as well as for moves of all distances. Although a convincing explanation for the secular decline in migration remains elusive and requires further research, we find only limited roles for the housing market contraction and the economic recession in reducing migration recently. Despite its downward trend, migration within the US remains higher than that within most other developed countries. |
| Keywords: | internal migration, migration trends, housing crisis, U.S. recession, cross-country comparisons |
| JEL: | J61 R23 J1 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5903&r=mig |
| By: | Martinho, Vítor João Pereira Domingues |
| Abstract: | This work aims to present a project of research about the identification of the determinants that affect the mobility of labor from 1991 to 2001 (at NUTs III level). As main conclusion it can be said which is confirmed the existence of some labor mobility in Portugal and that regional mobility is mainly influenced positively by the availability of housing. This study analyses, also, through cross-section estimation methods, the influence of spatial effects in the conditional product convergence in the parishes’ economies of mainland Portugal between 1991 and 2001. Taking into account the estimation results, it is stated that there are not indications of convergence (the population is in the littoral of Portugal) and it can be seen that spatial spillover effects, spatial lag and spatial error condition the convergence of product of Portuguese parishes in the period under consideration. |
| Keywords: | net migration; convergence theory; panel and cross-section estimations; Portuguese regions |
| JEL: | O18 O47 C21 R23 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32799&r=mig |
| By: | Martinho, Vítor João Pereira Domingues |
| Abstract: | In this work we pretend 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 of Portugal, from 1996 to 2002. As main conclusion it can be said 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. This study analyses, also, through cross-section estimation methods, the influence of spatial effects and human capital in the conditional productivity convergence in the economic sectors of NUTs III of mainland Portugal between 1995 and 2002. |
| Keywords: | net migration; convergence; panel and cross-section estimations; Portuguese regions |
| JEL: | O18 O47 C23 R11 C21 R23 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32801&r=mig |