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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Jha, Saumitra (Stanford University); Wilkinson, Steven (Yale University) |
| Abstract: | Can combat experience foster organizational skills that engender political collective action? We use the arbitrary assignment of troops to frontline combat in World War II to identify the effect of combat experience on two channels that change local ethnic composition and future political control: ethnic cleansing and co-ethnic immigration. During the Partition of South Asia in 1947, an environment where national borders were themselves endogenous to ethnic composition, we find that ethnically mixed districts whose veterans gained more combat experience exhibit greater co-ethnic immigration and ethnic cleansing. However, where ethnic groups had been in complementary economic roles or the minority received greater combat experience, there was relatively less minority ethnic cleansing. We interpret these results as reflecting the substitute roles of ethnic cleansing and co-ethnic immigration in altering local ethnic composition to gain political control and the role of combat experience in enhancing organizational skill that facilitates political collective action. |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:2092&r=mig |
| By: | Friebel, Guido (Goethe University Frankfurt); Guriev, Sergei (CEFIR, New Economic School, Moscow) |
| Abstract: | Despite its importance in global illegal migration, there is little, and mostly theoretical research on human smuggling. We suggest an analytical framework to understand the micro structure of the human smuggling market. Migrants interact with smuggling and financing intermediaries; these may or may not be integrated with each other, and with the migrants' employers. Policies of receiving countries (border controls, employer sanctions, deportation policies, sales of visa) affect the interactions in the smuggling market, and, hence, migration flows. We review the theoretical work, point to the scarce empirical evidence, and identify challenges for future theoretical, empirical work and policy advice. |
| Keywords: | illegal migration, trafficking |
| JEL: | J15 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6350&r=mig |
| By: | Ciro Avitabile (Inter-American Devlopment Bank and CSEF); Irma Clots-Figueras (Universidad Carlos I de Madrid); Paolo Masella (University of Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | Citizenship rights are associated with better economic opportunities for immigrants. This paper studies how in a country with a large fraction of temporary migrants the fertility decisions of foreign citizens respond to a change in the rules that regulate child legal status at birth. The introduction of birthright citizenship in Germany, following the introduction of the new German nationality law in 2000, represented a positive shock to the returns to investment in child human capital. Consistent with Becker's "quality-quantity" model of fertility, we find that birthright citizenship leads to a reduction in immigrant fertility and an improvement in health outcomes for the children affected by the reform. |
| Date: | 2012–02–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:305&r=mig |
| By: | Domenico Depalo; Silvia Fedeli |
| Abstract: | On the basis of a unique dataset referring to all 8,100 Italian municipalities and providing details of their balance-sheets, local governments’ features, socio-demographic and economic indicators, we analyze the determinants of the local cultural expenditures. We exploit the panel nature of the data to explain observable and unobservable heterogeneity. Other than the traditional determinants, we find that per capita cultural expenditures increase with the population size, but decrease with the share of men over total population; immigrants increase local cultural spending only in the long run. The number of years in power of the municipal council also plays a role. |
| Keywords: | Local public expenditure, cultural expenditure, immigrants, local government choice, Mundlak correction. |
| JEL: | H72 Z10 C23 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sap:wpaper:wp139&r=mig |
| By: | Milo Bianchi (DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - CNRS : UMR7088 - Université Paris IX - Paris Dauphine) |
| Abstract: | We build a simple model of self-selection into migration and immigration policy determination. We first show that the effect of any immigration policy can be decomposed into a size and a composition effect. We then explore how the optimal policy may change once the latter effect is considered. |
| Keywords: | Immigrant self-selection; immigration policy. |
| Date: | 2012–02–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00670037&r=mig |
| By: | d'Artis Kancs |
| Abstract: | The paper studies the impact of migration policy liberalisation on international labour migration in the enlarged EU in a structural NEG approach. The liberalisation of migration policy would induce additional 1.80 - 2.98 percent of the total EU workforce to change their country of location, with most of migrant workers relocating from the East to the West. The average net migration rate is decreasing in the level of integration, suggesting that from the economic point of view no regulatory policy responses are necessary to labour migration in the enlarged EU. |
| Keywords: | Labour Migration, Economic Integration, Economic Geography, Market Access. |
| JEL: | F12 F14 F16 J21 J61 L11 |
| Date: | 2011–12–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2011_22&r=mig |
| By: | Thomas Liebig; Sebastian Kohls; Karolin Krause |
| Abstract: | Switzerland is among the OECD countries with the largest immigrant populations – 27% of the working-age population are foreign-born – and the issue of immigration is high on both the policy agenda and in the public debate. Given the numerous debates around this issue in Switzerland, one could be tempted to think that immigrants are less well integrated than in other countries... |
| JEL: | J13 J15 J21 J24 J61 J7 J8 |
| Date: | 2012–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:elsaab:128-en&r=mig |
| By: | Elisabetta LODIGIANI (DEAS, University of Milan and Centro Studi Luca d’Agliano); Sara SALOMONE (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES) and Tor Vergata University) |
| Abstract: | It is recognized that affirmative action, as anti-discriminatory policies whose aim is to benefit an underrepresented group, is a key driver of progress for women. However, the role of migrants in helping female voice from abroad has not been addressed yet. This paper empirically investigates the effect of international migration on the parliamentary participation of women left behind following the brand new strand of literature on ‘transfers of norms’. Panel data from 1960 to 2000 allows us to take into account selection due to women’s eligibility, observed and unobserved heterogeneity. After having controlled for traditional political and non political factors, we show that total international migration to countries with higher female political empowerment significantly increases the female parliamentary shares in sending countries |
| Keywords: | Women’s empowerment, Transfers of norms, International Migration, Panel Data, Sample Selection |
| JEL: | J16 D72 F22 C33 |
| Date: | 2012–02–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2012001&r=mig |
| By: | Giuseppe Russo (University of Salerno and CSEF); Luigi Senatore (University of Salerno and University of Leicester) |
| Abstract: | According to the Lisbon Treaty the increasing cost of enforcing the European border against immigration shall be shared among the EU members. Nonetheless, the Treaty is rather vague with respect to the "appropriate measures" to adopt in order to distribute the financial burden. Members who do not share their borders with source countries have an incentive to free ride on the other countries. We study a contribution game where a border country and a central country minimize a loss function with respect to their national immigration target. We consider both sequential and simultaneous decisions and we show that joint contribution occurs only if the immigration targets are not too different. Total contribution is higher when decisions are simultaneous, but the sequential framework achieves joint contribution under a wider difference in the national targets. |
| Keywords: | Policy making, Government expenditures, Local government expenditures, Federalism. |
| JEL: | D78 H72 H77 |
| Date: | 2012–02–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:306&r=mig |
| By: | d'Artis Kancs; Pavel Ciaian |
| Abstract: | Recently, the EU Council adopted a new labour migration policy instrument - the EU Blue Cards (BC) - for attracting the highly skilled workers to the EU. The present paper examines the potential impacts, which BC may cause on less developed sending countries (LDC). Our results suggest that the EU BC will reduce human capital in LDC. In addition, BC will also have a negative impact on knowledge capital. These findings suggest that without appropriate policy responses, BC makes developing country growth prospects rather bleak than blue. Therefore, we propose and analyse alternative migration policy instruments for LDC. We find that policies implemented on the demand side of the skilled labour market are the most efficient. In contrast, policies that address the supply side of the skilled labour market are the least efficient, though they might be less costly to implement. |
| Keywords: | Knowledge capital, human capital, high-skill migration, innovative capital, economic growth. |
| JEL: | F02 F22 J24 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2011–12–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eei:rpaper:eeri_rp_2011_21&r=mig |
| By: | Giuseppe Croce; Emanuela Ghignoni |
| Abstract: | According to a recent strand of literature this paper highlights the relevance of spatial mobility as an explanatory factor of the individual risk of being overeducated. To investigate the causal link between spatial mobility and overeducation we use individual information about daily home-to-work commuting time and choices to relocate in a different local area to get a job. In our model we also take into account relevant local labour markets features. We use a probit bivariate model to control for selective access to employment, and test the possibility of endogeneity of the decision to migrate. Separate estimations are run for upper-secondary and tertiary graduates. The results sustain the appropriateness of the estimation technique and show a significantly negative impact of the daily commuting time for the former group, as well as, negative impact of the decision to migrate and of the migration distance for the latter one. |
| Keywords: | Overeducation, Spatial flexibility, Local labour markets, Sample selection bias |
| JEL: | J21 J61 J62 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sap:wpaper:wp145&r=mig |
| By: | Dechief, Diane; Oreopoulos, Philip |
| Abstract: | In earlier work (Oreopoulos, 2009), thousands of resumes were sent in response to online job postings across Toronto to investigate why Canadian immigrants struggle in the labor market. The findings suggested significant discrimination by name ethnicity and city of experience. This follow-up study focuses more on better understanding exactly why this type of discrimination occurs -- that is, whether this discrimination can be attributed to underlying concerns about worker productivity or simply prejudice, and whether the behaviour is likely conscious or not. We examine callback rates from sending resumes to online job postings across multiple occupations in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Substantial differences in callback rates arise again from simply changing an applicant’s name. Combining all three cities, resumes with English-sounding names are 35 percent more likely to receive callbacks than resumes with Indian or Chinese names, remarkably consistent with earlier findings from Oreopoulos (2009) for Toronto in better economic circumstances. If name-based discrimination arises from language and social skill concerns, we should expect to observe less discrimination when 1) including on the resume other attributes related to these skills, such as language proficiency and active extracurricular activities; 2) looking at occupations that depend less on these skills, like computer programming and data entry and 3); listing a name more likely of an applicant born in Canada, like a Western European name compared to a Indian or Chinese name, In all three cases, we do not find these patterns. We then asked recruiters to explain why they believed name discrimination occurs in the labour market. Overwhelmingly, they responded that employers often treat a name as a signal that an applicant may lack critical language or social skills for the job, which contradicts our conclusions from our quantitative analysis. Taken together, the contrasting findings are consistent with a model of ‘subconscious’ statistical discrimination, where employers justify name and immigrant discrimination based on language skill concerns, but incorrectly overemphasize these concerns without taking into account offsetting characteristics listed on the resume. Pressure to avoid bad hires exacerbates these effects, as does the need to review resumes quickly. Masking names when deciding who to interview, while considering better ways discern foreign language ability may help improve immigrants' chances for labour market success. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Audit Study, Point System |
| JEL: | J70 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–02–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2012-8&r=mig |
| By: | Ernest Miguélez (Economics and Statistics Division, World Intellectual Property Organization and Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona); Rorina Moreno (Faculty of Economics, University of Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | The aim of the present paper is to identify the determinants of the geographical mobility of skilled individuals, such as inventors, across European regions. Their mobility contributes to the geographical diffusion of knowledge and reshapes the geography of talent. We test whether geography, amenities, job opportunities and social proximity between inventors’ communities, and the so-called National System of Innovation, drive in- and out-flows of inventors between pairs of regions. We use a control function approach to address the endogenous nature of social proximity, and zero-inflated negative binomial models to accommodate our estimations to the count nature of the dependent variable and the high number of zeros it contains. Our results highlight the importance of physical proximity in driving the mobility patterns of inventors. However, job opportunities, social and institutional relations, and technological and cultural proximity also play key roles in mediating this phenomenon. |
| Keywords: | inventors’ mobility, gravity model, amenities, job opportunities, social and institutional proximities, zero-inflated negative binomial, European regions. JEL classification: C8, J61, O31, O33, R0 |
| Date: | 2012–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:201204&r=mig |