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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Irene Mosca (Trinity College Dublin); Robert Wright (Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines empirically the relationship between under-employment and migration amongst five cohorts of graduates of Scottish higher education institutions with micro-data collected by the Higher Education Statistical Agency. The data indicate that there is a strong positive relationship between migration and graduate employment—those graduates who move after graduation from Scotland to the rest of the UK or abroad have a much higher rate of graduate employment. Versions of probit regression are used to estimate migration and graduate employment equations in order to explore the nature of this relationship further. These equations confirm that there is a strong positive relationship between the probability of migrating and the probability of being in graduate employment even after other factors are controlled for. Instrumental variables estimation is used to examine the causal nature of the relationship by attempting to deal with the potential endogeneity of migration decisions. Overall the analysis is consistent with the hypotheses that a sizeable fraction of higher education graduates are leaving Scotland for employment reasons. In turn this finding suggests the over-education/under-employment nexus is a serious problem in Scotland. |
| Keywords: | Scotland, under-employment, over-education, higher education graduates |
| JEL: | I23 J24 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:str:wpaper:1135&r=mig |
| By: | Mariya Aleksynska; Giovanni Peri |
| Keywords: | Migration, International Trade, Business Networks, Differentiated Goods |
| JEL: | F14 F16 F22 A A A |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2011-26&r=mig |
| By: | Francesca MARCHETTA; Simone BERTOLI |
| Abstract: | Return migration exerts wide-ranging influence upon the countries of origin of the migrants. We analyze whether returnees adjust their fertility choices to match the norms which prevail in their previous countries of destinations, using Egyptian household-level data. Egyptians migrate predominantly towards other Arab countries characterized by higher fertility rates. Relying on a two-step instrumental variable approach to control for the endogeneity of the migration decisions, we show that return migration has a significant and positive influence on the total number of children. These results suggest that migration might not be an unmitigated blessing for Egypt, as it has contributed to slow down the process of demographic transition. |
| Keywords: | temporary migration; fertility; household-level data; North Africa; Egypt |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1314&r=mig |
| By: | Brian Duncan (University of Colorado Denver); Stephen J. Trejo (University of Texas at Austin) |
| Abstract: | Much of the socioeconomic mobility achieved by U.S. immigrant families takes place across rather than within generations. When assessing the long-term integration of immigrants, it is therefore important to analyze differences not just between the foreign-born and U.S-born, but also across generations of the U.S.-born. Because of data limitations, however, virtually all studies of the later- generation descendants of immigrants rely on subjective measures of ethnic self-identification rather than arguably more objective measures based on the countries of birth of the respondent and his ancestors. In this context, biases can arise from “ethnic attrition†(e.g., U.S.-born individuals who do not self-identify as Hispanic despite having ancestors who were immigrants from a Spanish-speaking country). Analyzing 1994- 2010 data from the Current Population Survey (CPS), we present evidence that such ethnic attrition is sizeable and selective for the second- and third-generation populations of key Hispanic and Asian immigrant groups. In addition, our results suggest that ethnic attrition generates measurement biases that vary across national origin groups in direction as well as magnitude, and that correcting for these biases is likely to raise the socioeconomic standing of the U.S.-born descendants of most Hispanic immigrants relative to their Asian counterparts. Finally, although changes to the CPS Hispanic origin and race questions adopted in 2003 have substantially lowered attrition rates for second- and third- generation Hispanics and Asians, ethnic attrition remains a significant issue even with the improved questionnaire. |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1201&r=mig |
| By: | Jan K. Brueckner (University of California, Irvine); David Neumark (University of California, Irvine & National Bureau of Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | The absence of a competitive market and the presence and strength of public-sector labor unions make it likely that public-sector pay reflects an element of rent extraction by government workers. In this paper, we test a specific hypothesis that connects such rent extraction to the level of local amenities. Specifically, although migration of taxpayers limits the extent of rent-seeking, public-sector workers may be able to extract higher rents in regions where high amenities mute the migration response. We develop a theoretical model that predicts such a link between public-sector wage differentials and local amenities, and we test the model’s predictions by analyzing variation in these wage differentials and amenities across states. The evidence reveals that public-sector wage differentials are, in fact, larger in the presence of high amenities, with the effect being stronger for unionized public-sector workers, who are likely better able to exercise political power in extracting rents. |
| Keywords: | Public-sector pay, unions, amenities |
| JEL: | J3 J45 R12 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2012/1/doc2011-42&r=mig |
| By: | Michael Ralph M. Abrigo (Philippine Institute for Development Studies); Desiree A. Desierto (School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman) |
| Abstract: | Outward migration data from the Philippines exhibit spatial clustering. This is likely due to information spillover effects--fellow migrants share information with other neighboring migrants, thereby lowering the costs of migration. To verify this, we use spatial econometrics to define a geography-Âbased network of migrants and estimate its effect on the growth in the number of succeeding migrants. We find that current and past migration from one municipality induces contemporaneous and future migration in neighboring municipalities, even while controlling for demographic, economic and institutional factors that may be common across municipalities. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Network effects, spatial econometrics |
| JEL: | C21 D85 F22 |
| Date: | 2011–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phs:dpaper:201106&r=mig |
| By: | Olof Åslund (Institute for labor market policy evaluation (IFAU), CReAM, IZA and Uppsala University); Anders Böhlmark (Institute for social research (SOFI) and CReAM); Oskar Nordström Skans (IFAU, IZA and UCLS) |
| Abstract: | We use sibling variation in age at migration to study how early life exposure to the host country affects social integration in adulthood. Building on a Swedish population-wide dataset, we show that early experiences affect the probability of living close to, working with, and marrying other immigrants. Segregation also decreases with parental time in the host country before the subject’s birth. The effects are permanent and do not arise through differences in education or economic outcomes. Several results instead suggest that social integration is heavily affected by preferences or cultural identities that are set during early, formative, years. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, integration, childhood experiences, age at migration, siblings. |
| JEL: | J12 J15 J13 J01 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nor:wpaper:2012003&r=mig |
| By: | Herbert Brücker (University of Bamberg, IAB, Nuernberg, and IZA, Bonn.); Philipp J.H. Schroeder (Aarhus School of Business and DIW Berlin.) |
| Abstract: | Temporary migration, though empirically relevant, is often ignored in formal models. This paper proposes a migration model with heterogeneous agents and persistent cross country income differentials that features temporary migration. In equilibrium there exists a positive relation between the stock of migrants and the income differential, while the net migration flow becomes zero. Consequently, existing empirical migration models, estimating net migration flows, instead of stocks, may be misspecified. This suspicion appears to be confirmed by our investigation of the cointegration relationships of German migration stocks and flows since 1967. We find that (i) panel-unit root tests reject the hypothesis that migration flows and the explanatory variables are integrated of the same order, while migration stocks and the explanatory variables are all I(1) variables, and (ii) the hypothesis of cointegration cannot be rejected for the stock model. |
| Keywords: | International migration, temporary migration, panel cointegration |
| JEL: | C23 C53 F22 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nor:wpaper:2011027&r=mig |
| By: | Christian Dustmann (UCL and CReAM); Tommaso Frattini (University of Milan, LdA, CReAM and IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper first presents a brief historical overview of immigration in Europe. We then provide (and distinguishing between EU and non-EU immigrants) a comprehensive analysis of the skill structures of immigrants and their labor market integration in the different European countries, their position in the wage distribution, and the situation of their children, and discuss the disadvantage of immigrants and their children relative to natives. We show that immigrants – in particular those from non-EU countries – are severely disadvantaged in most countries, even if we compare them to natives with the same measurable skills. We conclude with a discussion of the role of regulations and institutions as one possible mechanism for these findings, and suggest directions for future research. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Europe, Integration, Institutions. |
| JEL: | J15 J61 J62 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nor:wpaper:2012001&r=mig |
| By: | Shuaizhang Feng; Michael Oppenheimer; Wolfram Schlenker |
| Abstract: | We investigate the link between agricultural productivity and net migration in the United States using a county-level panel for the most recent period of 1970-2009. In rural counties of the Corn Belt, we find a statistically significant relationship between changes in net outmigration and climate-driven changes in crop yields, with an estimated semi-elasticity of about -0.17, i.e., a 1% decrease in yields leads to a 0.17% net reduction of the population through migration. This effect is primarily driven by young adults. We do not detect a response for senior citizens, nor for the general population in eastern counties outside the Corn Belt. Applying this semi-elasticity to predicted yield changes under the B2 scenario of the Hadley III model, we project that, holding other factors constant, climate change would on average induce 3.7% of the adult population (ages 15-59) to leave rural counties of the Corn Belt in the medium term (2020-2049) compared to the 1960-1989 baseline, with the possibility of a much larger migration response in the long term (2077-2099). Since there is uncertainty about future warming, we also present projections for a range of uniform climate change scenarios in temperature or precipitation. |
| JEL: | N3 N5 Q1 Q54 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17734&r=mig |
| By: | Ekrame Boubtane; Dramane Coulibaly; Christophe Rault |
| Keywords: | Immigration, GROWTH, unemployment, Granger causality |
| JEL: | E20 F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2011-29&r=mig |
| By: | Venditto , Bruno; Caruso , Immacolata |
| Abstract: | The study offer a contribution to the analysis of the problems linked to the environmental migration focusing on a specific Mediterranean area, that of the Middle East and Northern Africa. After a brief analysis of the socio-economic and environmental context, used to describe the vulnerability features of the area, the studies will assess the regional migration system particularly the so called "forced migrants". Due to the lack of an accepted common international definition of environmental refugees, following the most recent literature in this study we have used the definition of forded migration to assess the environmental migration. This in fact, among the causes of migration considers not only the "physical environment" but a plethora of socio economic factors which interact among themselves and force people to migrate. In this definitions we include: Internal Displaced Persons, forced to move for the modification of the habitat where they live caused by natural or human disasters but also Migrants and IDPs forced to move due to the implementation of developmental project such as the construction of mega infrastructure such as dams, or the mining and deforestation activities, as well as the the migrants who sick asylum due to conflicts, civil wars or internal persecution |
| Keywords: | Migration; Environment; DEvelopment |
| JEL: | Q50 O15 Q01 |
| Date: | 2011–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:35807&r=mig |