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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Kawaguchi, Daiji (Hitotsubashi University); Lee, Soohyung (University of Maryland) |
| Abstract: | Every year, a large number of women immigrate as brides from developing countries to developed countries in East Asia. This phenomenon virtually did not exist in the early 1990s, but foreign brides currently comprise 4 to 35 percent of newlyweds in these developed Asian countries. This paper argues that two factors account for this rapid increase in "bride importation": the rapid growth of women's educational attainment and a cultural norm that leads to a low net surplus of marriage for educated women. We provide empirical evidence supporting our theoretical model and its implications, using datasets from Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. |
| Keywords: | immigration, marriage, sex ratio imbalance, international marriages, cross-border marriages, assortative matching |
| JEL: | A12 J12 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6458&r=mig |
| By: | Cameron, Lisa A. (Monash University); Erkal, Nisvan (University of Melbourne); Gangadharan, Lata (Monash University); Zhang, Marina (University of Melbourne) |
| Abstract: | Cultural traits play a significant role in the determination of economic outcomes and institutions. This paper presents evidence from laboratory experiments on the cultural integration of individuals of Chinese ethnicity in Australia, focusing on social preferences, preferences for competition, and risk attitudes. We show that the greater the share of education an individual receives in the West, the more they behave like Western subjects and the less they behave according to the norms of their Eastern heritage. Increased exposure to Western education has a strong negative impact on altruism, trust, and trustworthiness. For risk and competitive preferences, our results are gender-specific. These results have important implications for policy making and institution building in multi-cultural societies. |
| Keywords: | cultural integration, cultural transmission, cultural diversity, cultural assimilation, acculturation, immigration, social preferences, preferences for competition, risk aversion |
| JEL: | C91 J15 D64 D03 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6467&r=mig |
| By: | Hirsch, Boris (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg); Jahn, Elke J. (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates immigrants' and natives' labour supply to the firm within a semi-structural approach based on a dynamic monopsony framework. Applying duration models to a large administrative employer–employee data set for Germany, we find that once accounting for unobserved worker heterogeneity immigrants supply labour less elastically to firms than natives. Under monopsonistic wage setting the estimated elasticity differential predicts a 4.7 log points wage penalty for immigrants thereby accounting for almost the entire unexplained native-immigrant wage differential of 2.9-5.9 log points. Our results imply that discriminating against immigrants is profitable rather than costly. |
| Keywords: | discrimination, native-immigrant wage differential, monopsony, Germany |
| JEL: | J42 J61 J71 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6472&r=mig |
| By: | Hou, Feng<br/> Abada, Teresa<br/> Lu, Yuqian |
| Abstract: | Self-employment has been regarded as an important pathway for many immigrants to engage in the labour market. However, little is known about self-employment among the children of immigrants. Using the 1981 and 2006 Canadian censuses of population and a generational cohort method of analysis, this paper compares the self-employment rates of immigrant parents and the children of immigrant parents when both were 25 to 44 years of age. The focus is on three questions: (1) Are children of immigrants likelier or less likely than immigrant parents to be self-employed?; (2) Are children of immigrants likelier or less likely than children of Canadian-born parents to be self-employed?; (3) Is the generational change in the self-employment rate from immigrant parents to the children of immigrants different from the generational change from Canadian-born parents to their children? |
| Keywords: | Ethnic diversity and immigration, Ethnic groups and generations in Canada, Immigrants and non-permanent residents, Labour market and income |
| Date: | 2012–04–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2012341e&r=mig |
| By: | Geay, Charlotte (Paris Graduate School of Economics, ENSAE); McNally, Sandra (London School of Economics); Telhaj, Shqiponja (London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | In recent years there has been an increase in the number of children going to school in England who do not speak English as a first language. We investigate whether this has an impact on the educational outcomes of native English speakers at the end of primary school. We show that the negative correlation observed in the raw data is mainly an artefact of selection: non-native speakers are more likely to attend school with disadvantaged native speakers. We attempt to identify a causal impact of changes in the percentage of non-native speakers within the year group. In general, our results suggest zero effect and rule out negative effects. |
| Keywords: | non-native English speakers, educational attainment |
| JEL: | I2 J15 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6451&r=mig |
| By: | Averett, Susan (Lafayette College); Argys, Laura (University of Colorado Denver); Kohn, Jennifer L. (Drew University) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the dual effects of immigration and obesity on labor market outcomes in the UK. There is only one other paper that has estimated these dual effects on a sample of immigrants to the US. We use the British Household Panel Survey, which contains information on height and weight for 2004 and 2006, along with immigration status and labor market outcomes. This was a period of increased immigration to the UK resulting in large part from the accession of new EU member states, though our sample includes both recent arrivals and those who have been in the UK for decades. We first analyze an immigrant-only sample and then expand the sample to compare the experience of these immigrants to natives with similar weight and other observable characteristics. We find support for the "healthy immigrant hypothesis" that suggests that immigrants are less likely to be obese than natives, and also evidence of an assimilation effect in which immigrants' weight increases with their time in the UK. The results indicate a wage premium and higher proportions of white collar work for immigrant men, but a wage penalty and lower proportions of white collar work for overweight and obese immigrant men. We find weaker but still negative associations between weight and labor market outcomes for immigrant women. Data limitations preclude efforts to address endogeneity, so these findings should be viewed as associations that support the need for better data for additional analysis of the dual effects of immigration and obesity on labor market outcomes. |
| Keywords: | immigrant, obesity, labor market outcomes |
| JEL: | I10 J15 J31 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6454&r=mig |
| By: | Giulietti, Corrado (IZA); Wahba, Jackline (University of Southampton) |
| Abstract: | This chapter reviews and discusses major theories and empirical studies about the welfare magnet hypothesis, i.e. whether immigrants are more likely to move to countries with generous welfare systems. Although economic theory predicts that welfare generosity affects the number, composition and location of immigrants, the empirical evidence is rather mixed. We offer possible explanations for the existence of such mixed evidence and highlight that the literature so far has overlooked the presence of different migration regimes, as well as the possibility of reverse causality between welfare spending and immigration. |
| Keywords: | welfare spending, immigration |
| JEL: | H53 J61 J68 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6450&r=mig |
| By: | Kohler, Pierre |
| Abstract: | This thesis consists of three essays on the economic and cultural integration of migrants in Switzerland, reverse causation between these two dimensions of the integration process, and the role of host society culture. Whereas each dimension is usually examined separately, this study proposes a systemic approach to investigate both the economic and cultural dimensions of migrant integration, their interaction as well as the influence of the broader social context. Chapter 1 explores the cultural integration paths of eight migrant groups from the first to the second generation by tracing the evolution of selected behaviours and attitudes, which are taken as indicative of cultural integration. It gauges the extent to which behaviours and attitudes of migrants are diverging from or converging with those of natives. Chapter 2 examines the causes of integration failures or, more precisely, how economic and cultural barriers to integration reinforce each other. Are cultural differences preventing the successful integration of migrants or does the root of integration failures lie in unequal economic opportunities and discrimination? Chapter 3 investigates the effect of host society culture on migrant wage discrimination. It examines whether the markedly more conservative political preferences on issues related to migration and asylum of voters in the German-speaking region of Switzerland affect outcomes in the labour market, or whether economic interactions are immune from tensions developing in the society at large. |
| Keywords: | immigration; migration; culture; labour market; economic integration; discrimination; Switzerland |
| JEL: | F22 J71 Z10 Z13 J78 Z12 J31 J60 J15 J68 J70 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38129&r=mig |
| By: | Mestres Domenech, J. |
| Abstract: | My thesis dissertation focuses on the temporariness of migration, its diverse effects as well as on migration selection. The first paper, A Dynamic Model of Return Migration analyzes the decision process underlying return migration using a dynamic model. We explain how migrants decide whether to stay or to go back to their home country together with their savings and consumption decisions. We simulate our model with return intentions and perform policy simulations. The second paper, Remittances and Temporary Migration, studies the remittance behaviour of immigrants and how it relates to temporary versus permanent migration plans. We use a unique data source that provides unusual detail on the purpose of remittances, savings, and return plans, and follows the same household over time. Our results suggest that changes in return plans lead to large changes in remittance flows. The third paper, Savings, Asset Holdings, and Temporary, analyzes how return plans affect not only remittances but also savings and the accumulation of assets. We show that immigrants with temporary return plans place a higher proportion of savings in the home country and have accumulated a higher amount and share of assets and housing value in the home country (compared to the host country). Finally, the fourth paper, Migrant Selection to the U.S.: Evidence from the Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS), studies the selection in terms of skills of recent migrants to the United States using the MxFLS. We highlight the important age gradient of migration, the different education attainment between age cohorts in Mexico and show the implications when analyzing migrant selection. Our claim is that in order to properly study the self-selection of migrants, it is necessary to compare migrants to non-migrants of the same age cohort. |
| Date: | 2012–01–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:ucllon:http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1338983/&r=mig |
| By: | David McKenzie (Development Research Group, World Bank and BREAD, CEPR, CReAM and IZA); Caroline Theoharides (Department of Economics and Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan); Dean Yang (Department of Economics and Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, NBER, and BREAD) |
| Abstract: | We use an original panel dataset of migrant departures from the Philippines to identify the responsiveness of migrant numbers and wages to GDP shocks in destination countries. We find a large significant elasticity of migrant numbers to GDP shocks at destination, but no significant wage response. This is consistent with binding minimum wages for migrant labor. This result implies that labor market imperfections that make international migration attractive also make migrant flows more sensitive to global business cycles. Difference-in-differences analysis of a minimum wage change for maids confirms that minimum wages bind and demand is price sensitive without these distortions. |
| Keywords: | international migration, migrant demand, labor output elasticity, minimum wages. |
| JEL: | O12 J23 F22 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1209&r=mig |
| By: | Simplice A, Asongu |
| Abstract: | This paper examines three relevant hypotheses on the incidence of health worker migration on human development and economic prosperity (at macro and micro levels) in Africa. Owing to lack of relevant data on Health Human Resource(HHR) migration for the continent, the subject matter has remained empirically void over the last decades despite the acute concern of health professional emigration. Using quantile regression, the following findings have been established. (1) The effect of HHR emigration is positive (negative) at low (high) levels of economic growth. (2) HHR emigration improves (mitigates) human development (GDP per capita growth) in low (high) quantiles of the distribution. (3)Specific differences in effects are found in top quantiles of human development and low quantiles of GDP per capita growth where the physician (nurse) emigration elasticities of development are positive (negative) and negative (positive) respectively. As a policy implication blanked health-worker emigration control policies are unlikely to succeed across countries with different levels of human development and economic prosperity. Hence the policies should be contingent on the prevailing levels of development and tailored differently across the most and least developed African countries. |
| Keywords: | Welfare; Health; Human Capital; Migration |
| JEL: | F22 O15 J24 D60 I10 |
| Date: | 2012–04–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38189&r=mig |
| By: | Nong Zhu; Xubei Luo; Heng-fu Zou |
| Abstract: | Migration and urbanization have transformed the Chinese economy and society in the past 25 years. This paper intends to explore the determinants of population flows and city growth using a panel data at the provincial level in China. The main findings are: (i) regional disparities of urbanization in China, in particular those between coastal and inland areas, are very significant; (ii) the open-door policy has encouraged urban development in China; (iii) the population of small and medium size cities grows faster than that of large cities; (iv) the role of the secondary and tertiary sectors differs from region to region. In central China, the secondary sector actually serves as the push factor for local urbanization; and in coastal region, however, it is the development of the tertiary sector that pushes urbanization; and (iv) the labor force tends to move to cities with good infrastructures. |
| Keywords: | regional disparities, migration, urbanization, city growth |
| JEL: | J61 O18 R23 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cuf:wpaper:545&r=mig |
| By: | Naudé, Wim (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG, Maastricht University); Bezuidenhout, Henri (North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa) |
| Abstract: | How responsive are remittances to various disasters, both natural and human-made? And would remittances be affected by systemic financial crises (such as the 2008/09 financial crisis)? Using panel data on 23 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries over the period 1980 to 2007, we find that remittances are slow to respond to natural disasters, unresponsive to outbreaks of conflict, and will decline, albeit slowly, after a global financial crisis only to the extent that the crisis affects incomes, migration stocks, exchange rates, and the banking system. The relative persistence of remittances suggests that it is a good bulwark against natural disasters and global financial crises in SSA. |
| Keywords: | remittances, migration, disasters, global financial crisis, Africa |
| JEL: | F24 F22 O55 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2012026&r=mig |