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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Antonio Accetturo (Bank of Italy); Luigi Infante (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | Activity and employment rates for immigrant women in many industrialized countries display a great variability across national groups. The aim of this paper is to assess whether this well-known fact is due to a voluntary decision (i.e. large reservation wages by the immigrants) or to an involuntary process in that the labour market evaluation of their skills is low. This is done by estimating the reservation wages for each individual in the dataset. Our results show that low activity and employment rates for certain national groups are not associated with high reservation wages. This implies that low participation should not be interpreted as a voluntary decision. |
| Keywords: | Reservation wages, female labour supply, cross-national differences |
| JEL: | J22 J61 J15 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_815_11&r=mig |
| By: | Carlo Gianelle |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how employment intermediaries affected the inter-firm network of worker mobility in an region of Italy in response of the reform that first allowed for temporary employment agencies in 1997. We map worker reallocations from a matched employer-employee dataset onto a directed graph, where vertices indicate firms, and links denote transfers of workers between firms. Using network-based methodologies we find that temporary employment agencies significantly increase network integration and practicability, while fastly increasing control over hiring channels. The policy implications of the results are discussed, highlighting the potential of network analysis as monitoring tool for regional and local labour markets. |
| Keywords: | Inter-firm networks, labour mobility, temporary employment agencies |
| JEL: | D85 C46 J63 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:618&r=mig |
| By: | Andersson, Lina (Linnaeus University); Hammarstedt, Mats (Linnaeus University); Hussain, Shakir (University of Birmingham); Shukur, Ghazi (Jönköping International Business School & Linnaeus University) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the importance of ethnic origin and local labour markets conditions for self-employment propensities in Sweden. In line with previous research we find differences in the self-employment rate between different immigrant groups as well as between different immigrant cohorts. We use a multilevel regression approach in order to quantify the role of ethnic background, point of time for immigration and local market conditions in order to further understand differences in self-employment rates between different ethnic groups. We arrive at the following: The self-employment decision is to a major extent guided by factors unobservable in register data. Such factors might be i.e. individual entrepreneurial ability and access to financial capital. The individual’s ethnic background and point of time for immigration play a smaller role for the self-employment decision but are more important than local labour market conditions. |
| Keywords: | Self-employment; immigrant background; local labour market |
| JEL: | J15 R23 |
| Date: | 2011–11–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cesisp:0261&r=mig |
| By: | Corak, Miles (University of Ottawa) |
| Abstract: | The successful acquisition of a language is often characterized in terms of critical periods. If this is the case it is likely that children who migrate face different challenges in attaining high school credentials depending upon their age at immigration. This paper examines the education outcomes of a cohort of immigrants who arrived in Canada as children. The 2006 Census is used and it is found that there is in fact a distinct change in the chances that children will hold a high-school diploma according to the age at which they arrived in the country. The chances of being a high-school dropout do not vary according to age at arrival up to about the age of nine, with children arriving after that age facing a distinct and growing increase in the chances that they will not graduate from high school. The findings suggest that public policy addressing the long run success of immigrant children needs to be mindful of the variation in risks and opportunities by age, and the role of both early childhood investment and the structure of the education system faced by young adolescents in determining them. |
| Keywords: | education, immigration, children |
| JEL: | I29 J13 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6072&r=mig |
| By: | Marina Murat |
| Abstract: | This paper uses data from PISA 2006 on science, mathematics and reading to analyse immigrant school gaps – negative difference between immigrants’ and natives’ scores - and the structural features of educational systems in two adjacent countries, Italy and France, with similar migration inflows and with similar schooling institutions, based on tracking. Our results show that tracking and school specific programs matter; in both countries, the school system upholds a separation between students with different backgrounds and ethnicities. Residential segregation or discrimination seem also to be at work, especially in France. Given the existing school model, a teaching support in mathematics and science in France and in reading in Italy would help immigrant students to converge to natives’ standards. |
| Keywords: | International migration; educational systems; PISA |
| JEL: | F22 I21 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:recent:073&r=mig |
| By: | Giulietti, Corrado (IZA); Guzi, Martin (IZA); Kahanec, Martin (Central European University, Budapest); Zimmermann, Klaus F. (IZA and University of Bonn) |
| Abstract: | The paper studies the impact of unemployment benefits on immigration. A sample of 19 European countries observed over the period 1993-2008 is used to test the hypothesis that unemployment benefit spending (UBS) is correlated with immigration flows from EU and non-EU origins. While OLS estimates reveal the existence of a moderate correlation for non-EU immigrants only, IV and GMM techniques used to address endogeneity issues yield, respectively, a much smaller and an essentially zero causal impact of UBS on immigration. All estimates for immigrants from EU origins indicate that flows within the EU are not related to unemployment benefit generosity. This suggests that the so-called "welfare migration" debate is misguided and not based on empirical evidence. |
| Keywords: | immigration, unemployment benefit spending, welfare magnets, European Union |
| JEL: | H53 J61 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6075&r=mig |
| By: | Drydakis, Nick (University of Patras) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the impact of ethnic identity on Albanian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Georgian, and Russian wages in Greece. Treating ethnic identity as a composite of language, cultural habits, ethnic-self identification, societal interaction, and future citizenship plans, the estimations suggest that assimilation and integration are positively associated with immigrant wages, while separation and marginalisation are negatively associated with immigrant wages, after considering various demographic and pre- and post-immigration characteristics. In addition, dramatic wage growth for fully assimilated and integrated immigrants, and vast wage losses for totally separated and marginalised immigrants are estimated. A healthy Greek – as well as a European – immigration system should recognise labour immigration flows and the potential of repeat immigration and evaluate the cornerstone features of ethnic identity. |
| Keywords: | ethnic identity, earnings |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J16 Z10 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6078&r=mig |
| By: | Collier, William (University of Kent); Piracha, Matloob (University of Kent); Randazzo, Teresa (University of Kent) |
| Abstract: | This paper utilises survey data of return migrants to analyse the determinants of remittances sent while the migrants were abroad. We approach our research question from the perspective of three sending countries in the Maghreb, namely Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. We investigate the remittance behaviour using the migrants’ conditions before migration as well as during the migration experience. Using a two-part model, we show that the decision to remit and the amount remitted depend on a combination of different migrant characteristics as well as the duration and form of migration. We also consider if the remittance behaviour is dependent on the type of return: decided or compelled. We show that those who decided to return have a higher probability to remit for investment purposes and remit more as the time spent abroad increases. |
| Keywords: | remittances, return migration, Maghreb countries |
| JEL: | F22 F24 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6091&r=mig |
| By: | Stark, Oded; Casarico, Alessandra; Devillanova, Carlo; Uebelmesser, Silke |
| Abstract: | This paper identifies the migration policies that emerge when both the sending country and the receiving country wield power to set migration quotas, when controlling migration is costly, and when the decision how much human capital to acquire depends, among other things, on the migration policies. The paper analyzes the endogenous formation of bilateral agreements in the shape of transfers to support migration controls, and in the shape of joint arrangements regarding the migration policy and the cost-sharing of its implementation. The paper shows that in equilibrium both the sending country and the receiving country can participate in setting the migration policy, that bilateral agreements can arise as a welfare-improving mechanism, and that the sending country can gain from migration even when it does not set its preferred policy. |
| Keywords: | Human capital formation, International migration, Migration policies, Welfare analysis, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Labor and Human Capital, F22, I30, J24, J61, |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:117431&r=mig |