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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Ernest Miguélez |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I aim to assess the influence of spatial mobility of knowledge workers on the formation of ties of scientific and industrial collaboration across European regions. Co-location has been traditionally invoked to ease formal collaboration between individuals and firms. Tie formation is costly and decreases as distance between the partners involved increases, making ties between co-located individuals more likely than between spatially separated peers. In some instances, highly-skilled actors might become mobile and bridge regional networks across long physical distances. The effect of trust and mutual understanding between members of a co-located community may well survive the end of their co-localisation, and therefore the formation of networks across the space may overcome long distances. In this paper I estimate a fixed effects logit model to ascertain whether there exists a ‘previous co-location premium’ in the formation of networks across European regions. The role of mobility in network formation has been lately discussed elsewhere, but, to my knowledge, barely empirically tested. |
| Keywords: | inventors’ mobility, technological collaborations, co-location, brain drain, panel data |
| JEL: | C8 J61 O31 O33 R0 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1208&r=mig |
| By: | Silvia Maja Melzer; Ruud J. Muffels |
| Abstract: | The German reunification, which several economists have called a 'natural' experiment, provides the unique possibility to inquire the impact of migration on subjective well-being (SWB). The main goal of the research is to assessing the impact of adaptation, social comparison and relative deprivation on the change in SWB associated with moving from Eastern to Western Germany after the German reunification in 1989. We suspect that the gains or losses in subjective well-being after migration are affected by the way migrants adapt to their new economic conditions, by with whom migrants compare themselves (that is, their reference group), their former peers in the East or their new peers in the West, and how well they integrate into the new society, that means whether they are relatively deprived with respect to earnings or not. We estimate fixed- and random-effects Generalized Least Square panel regression models. Our results indicate a positive and lasting effect of migration on SWB, although it is strongly suppressed by dissatisfaction resulting from the comparison of migrants' income with the incomes of their former peers in East Germany and the relatively higher earnings of their new peers in West Germany. Moreover, our analyses provide an explanation for the increase of SWB associated with an increase in income found in East Germany after the reunification; a deviation from the Easterlins' paradox. |
| Keywords: | Migration, subjective well-being, happiness, social comparison, adaptation, relative deprivation, German panel data, panel regression models, natural experiment |
| JEL: | I32 J24 J61 J62 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp448&r=mig |
| By: | John Gibson (University of Waikato); David McKenzie (World Bank); Bilal Zia (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | Remittances are a major source of external finance for many developing countries but the cost of sending remittances remains high for many migration corridors. International efforts to lower costs by facilitating the entry of new financial products and new cost comparison information sources rely heavily on the financial literacy of migrants. This paper presents the results of a randomized experiment designed to measure the impact of providing financial literacy training to migrants. Training appears to increase financial knowledge and information seeking behavior and reduces the risk of switching to costlier remittance products but does not change either the frequency or level of remittances. |
| Keywords: | Financial literacy; Remittances; Migration. |
| JEL: | F24 O12 C93 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1216&r=mig |
| By: | James Ted McDonald; Casey Warman; Christopher Worswick |
| Abstract: | We analyze the process of immigrant selection and occupational outcomes of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) in the US and Canada. The IMG relicensing model of Kugler and Sauer (2005) is extended to incorporate two different approaches to immigrant selection: employer nomination systems and point systems. Consistent with the predictions of our model, we find that, in Canada where a point system has been in place, IMGs are less likely to be employed as physicians than are IMGs in the US, where employer nomination is a more important entry path for IMGs. |
| Keywords: | Physicians, immigration, occupation, skills, human capital |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J61 J62 J71 J80 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcm:sedapp:293&r=mig |
| By: | Nina Neubecker; Marcel Smolka; Anne Steinbacher |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the role of ethnic communities in shaping the recent immigration boom to Spain. We find that ethnic communities exerted a strong positive effect on the scale and a strong negative effect on the skill structure of this immigration. Unlike previous studies, we explicitly acknowledge similarities among final migration destinations and thus partly relax the independence of irrelevant alternatives assumption. We strengthen our causal interpretation by controlling for observed and unobserved heterogeneity in bilateral migration costs, and by adopting an instrumental variables approach. Our results suggest that previous estimates of the scale effect are upward-biased by approximately 50%. |
| Keywords: | international migration, ethnic networks, family and friends effect, skill structure of migration, Spain |
| JEL: | F22 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iaw:iawdip:83&r=mig |
| By: | Charlotte Geay; Sandra McNally; Shqiponja Telhaj |
| 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: | primary school education, UK, educational attainment, curriculum, immigration, language |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:368&r=mig |
| By: | Diette, Timothy M. (Washington and Lee University); Uwaifo Oyelere, Ruth (Georgia Tech) |
| Abstract: | The influx of immigrants has shifted the ethnic composition of public schools in many states. Given the perceived negative impact of significant immigrant inflows, we are interested in investigating if these inflows into a school affect the academic performance of native students who remain. To address this question, we analyze education data from North Carolina, a state that has experienced a significant immigrant influx in the last two decades. We focus on the share of the English Language Learners in the student population for students between fourth and eighth grade over the period from 1999 to 2006 and the potential effects of the presence of these students on the level of achievement in math and reading for native students. Our analysis suggests some evidence of immigrant peer effects though the effects are heterogeneous. Specifically, we find some evidence of positive effects among those in the middle and bottom portions of the achievement distribution while we find small negative effects at the top of the distribution. |
| Keywords: | immigrants, student achievement, peer effects, education |
| JEL: | I20 I21 J15 J24 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6561&r=mig |
| By: | Kristi Anniste; Tiit Tammaru; Enel Pungas; Tiiu Paas |
| Abstract: | The study analyzes changes in emigration from Estonia in order to shed more light on East–West migration, contributing to the main debate on “brain drain” by focusing on educational differences in emigration. We use anonymous individual level data for all emigrants from the register-based Estonian Emigration Database compiled by Statistics Estonia for the period 2000–2008. The analysis shows that there has been no significant brain drain from Estonia as a new EU member state during this period. Moreover, we find evidence of a spreading of the emigration norm into a wider range of population groups, including the less educated, since Estonia joined the European Union in 2004. |
| Keywords: | education, emigration, East–West migration, Estonia |
| JEL: | J61 F22 O15 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtk:febawb:87&r=mig |
| By: | Joël MACHADO (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to assess the effects of an immigration amnesty on agents' welfare by using a simple two-period overlapping generations model. Given that illegal immigrants play a role in the economy even before being regularized, an amnesty differs from new immigration. In the presence of labor market discrimination, capital holders are harmed as the acquisition of legal status increases the wage bill that they pay. The net fiscal effect strongly depends on the discrimination that illegal workers face ex ante. A calibration of the model on Germany and the United Kingdom highlights overall limited economic consequences of amnesty which can be contrasted to the effects of deportation and new legal immigration. In particular, when public welfare expenditures are low, amnesty and new immigration can increase native's welfare in the long run while deportation might harm less-educated agents. |
| Keywords: | illegal immigration, amnesty, regularization, discrimination |
| JEL: | F29 J61 J79 |
| Date: | 2012–05–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2012010&r=mig |
| By: | Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano; Giovanni Peri; Greg C. Wright |
| Abstract: | How do offshoring and immigration affect the employment of native workers? What kinds of jobs suffer, or benefit, most from the competition created by offshore and immigrant workers? In contrast to the existing literature that has mostly looked at the effects of offshoring and immigration separately, we argue that one can gain useful insights by jointly investigating the interactions among native, immigrant and offshore workers. We develop our argument in three steps. First, we present some new facts on 58 U.S. manufacturing industries from 2000 to 2007. Second, we build on Grossman and Rossi-Hansberg (2008) to design a model of task assignment among heterogeneous native, immigrant and offshore workers that fits those facts. Third, we use the model to draw systematic predictions about the effects of immigration and offshoring on native workers and we test these predictions on the data. We find that, within the manufacturing sector, immigrants do not compete much with natives, as these two groups of workers are relatively specialized in tasks at opposite ends of the skill intensity spectrum. Offshore workers, on the other hand, seem to be specialized in tasks of intermediate skill intensity. We also find that offshoring has no effect on native employment in the aggregate, while the effect of immigration on native employment is positive. This hints at the presence of a "productivity effect" whereby offshoring and immigration improve industry efficiency, thereby creating new jobs. |
| Keywords: | Employment, production tasks, immigrants, offshoring |
| JEL: | F22 F23 J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1147&r=mig |
| By: | O'Connell, Philip J.; Joyce, Corona; Finn, Mairead |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp434&r=mig |
| By: | Fischer, A.M. |
| Abstract: | In anticipation of the forthcoming release of the 2010 national population census of China, this paper compares the limited population data that have been released so far with annual data on natural population increase since the 2000 census in order to construct a rough but robust measure of net migration for each province in China between these two censuses. The results emphasize the extent of net out-migration from much of interior and western China as well as the degree to which rapid population growth in five coastal growth poles has been due to net in-migration. In total, 15 out of 31 provinces experienced net population outflows between the two censuses according to this measure, versus only six that experienced negative population growth, leaving nine provinces that registered positive population growth at the same time as net out-migration. Three exceptions to the western pattern of net outflows were the Tibet Autonomous Region, Xinjiang and Ningxia, which had the highest average natural population increase rates in China and also continued to experience moderate net in-migration. Overall, the sheer extent and speed of these flows, which have been mostly contained within national borders, sheds light on the enormity of the developmental challenges facing the government in this context, as well as the demographic pressures placed on the coastal growth poles absorbing most of the net flows. Moreover, there appears to be little association between rates of net migration and provincial rates of economic growth or even provincial levels of per capita GDP during this period, except in the broadest interregional sense that the three coastal province-level entities exhibiting the strongest rates of net in-migration – Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin – were by far the most affluent in China. |
| Keywords: | China;population;census;natural population increase;provincial migration |
| Date: | 2012–05–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:euriss:541&r=mig |
| By: | Jaap Dronkers (Maastricht University); Rolf van der Velden (Maastricht University); Allison Dunne (GHK Consulting Ltd) |
| Abstract: | The main research question of this paper is the combined estimation of the effects of educational systems, school composition, track level, and country of origin on the educational achievement of 15-year-old migrant students. We focus specifically on the effects of socioeconomic and ethnic background on achievement scores and the extent to which these effects are affected by characteristics of the school, track, or educational system in which these students are enrolled. In doing so, we examine the ‘sorting’ mechanisms of schools and tracks in highly stratified, moderately stratified, and comprehensive education systems. We use data from the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) wave. Compared with previous research in this area, the paper’s main contribution is that we explicitly include the tracks-within-school level as a separate unit of analyses, which leads to less biased results concerning the effects of educational system characteristics. The results highlight the importance of including factors of track level and school composition in the debate surrounding educational inequality of opportunity for students in different education contexts. The findings clearly indicate that the effects of educational system characteristics are flawed if the analysis only uses a country- and a student level and ignores the tracks-within-school level characteristics. From a policy perspective, the most important finding is that educational systems are neither uniformly ‘good’ nor ‘bad’, but they can result in different consequences for different migrant groups. Some migrant groups are better off in comprehensive systems, while others are better off in moderately stratified systems. |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1215&r=mig |
| By: | Jawaid, Syed Tehseen; Raza, Syed Ali |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the relationship between workers’ remittances and economic growth in China and Korea by employing time series data from period of 1980 to 2009. Cointegration results confirm that there exist significant positive long run relationship between remittances and economic growth in Korea, while, significant negative relationship exist between remittances and economic growth in China. Error correction model confirms the significant positive short run relationship of workers’ remittances with economic growth in Korea while, the results of China were insignificant in short run. Causality analysis confirms unidirectional causality runs from workers’ remittances to economic growth in both China and Korea. Sensitivity analysis confirms that the results are robust. It is suggested that Korea should form friendly policy to ensure the continuous inflows of workers’ remittances and their efficient utilization to ensure economic growth. On the other hand, China should keep an eye to reduce voluntary unemployment leads to decrease in productivity and growth in the country. |
| Keywords: | Remittances; Open Economy; Economic Growth |
| JEL: | F41 F43 F24 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39003&r=mig |
| By: | Jawaid, Syed Tehseen; Raza, Syed Ali |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the effect of workers’ remittances on economic growth of five South Asian countries namely Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka & Nepal by employing long time series data from 1975 to 2009. Cointegration results confirm that there exist significant positive long run relationship between remittances and economic growth in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal while, significant negative relationship exist between remittances and economic growth in Pakistan. Causality analysis shows bidirectional causality between remittances and economic growth in Nepal and Sri Lanka. On the other hand, unidirectional causality exist, runs from remittances to economic growth in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Sensitivity analysis confirms that the results are robust. It suggested that policy makers should make policies to reduce the transaction cost to welcome remittances in the region. In addition, countries especially Pakistan should more relying on increasing exports rather than workers’ remittances as foreign exchange earnings for sustainable and long run growth in the country. |
| Keywords: | Remittances; Economic Growth |
| JEL: | F43 F24 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39001&r=mig |
| By: | Jawaid, Syed Tehseen; Raza, Syed Ali |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the relationship between workers’ remittances and economic growth by using 7 years average annual data of 113 countries from the period 2003 to 2009. Results indicate the positive and significant relationship between workers’ remittances and economic growth in sample of low income, middle income, high income and all countries. Results also show that the workers’ remittances are more contributing in high income countries as compare to low and middle income countries. Sensitivity analysis has been performed to test the consistency of initial results and confirms that the results are robust. Unconditional convergence results confirm the convergence in all categories. Results confirm that countries are coming together with respect to per capita income. Results of conditional convergence based on workers’ remittances model suggest the low and middle income countries are converging each other more rapidly. Conversely, results show that high income and all countries models are converging each other but at slower pace in conditional model with workers’ remittances as compare to unconditional model. |
| Keywords: | Remittances; Economic Growth; Cross Country Analysis |
| JEL: | O47 F43 F24 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39002&r=mig |