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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Ortega, Francesc (Queens College, CUNY); Peri, Giovanni (University of California, Davis) |
| Abstract: | This paper makes two contributions to the literature on the determinants of international migration flows. First, we compile a new dataset on annual bilateral migration flows covering 15 OECD destination countries and 120 sending countries for the period 1980-2006. We also collect data on time-varying immigration policies that regulate the entry of immigrants for our destination countries over this period. Second, we extend the empirical model of migration choice across multiple destinations developed by Grogger and Hanson (2011) by allowing for unobserved individual heterogeneity between migrants and non-migrants. Our estimates show that international migration flows are highly responsive to income per capita at destination. This elasticity is twice as high for within-EU migration, reflecting the higher degree of labor mobility within the European Union. We also find that tightening of laws regulating immigrant entry reduce rapidly and significantly their flow. |
| Keywords: | international migration, labor movements, immigration policies |
| JEL: | F22 E25 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6655&r=mig |
| By: | Ambrosini, J. William (Amazon); Mayr, Karin (University of Vienna); Peri, Giovanni (University of California, Davis); Radu, Dragos (University College London) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses census and survey data to identify the wage earning ability and the selection of recent Romanian migrants and returnees. We construct measures of selection across skill groups and estimate the average and the skill-specific premium for migration and return for three typical destinations of Romanian migrants after 1990. Once we account for migration costs, we find evidence that the selection and sorting of migrants by skills is driven by different returns in countries of destination. We also find that the return premium increases with migrants' skills and this drives the positive selection of returnees relative to non-migrants. As these findings are consistent with a model of rational choice in the migration decisions, we simulate a rational-agent model of education, migration and return. Our results suggest that for a source country like Romania relatively high rates of temporary migration might have positive long-run effects on average skills and wages. |
| Keywords: | migration premium, selection of migrants, returnees |
| JEL: | F22 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6664&r=mig |
| By: | Peter Simmons; Yuan Yuan Xie |
| Abstract: | Guangdong is one of the fastest growing Chinese provinces and has a high level of gross migration flows. Its intra-province migration is 2.7 times higher than its inter-province migration. We study migration between the 18 prefecture-level divisions of Guangdong during 1990-1999 using annual data. In our framework, migration decisions are based on differences in five characteristics between origin and destination: expected urban wage, marriage opportunities, urbanisation and (to reflect profitability of self employed migrants) population and capital stock. We formulate a panel regression equation allowing for both panel heteroscedasticity and inter-cities heterogeneity in the migration process. Remarkably we find that there is a high degree of homogeneity between cities, the only differences being in the impacts of capital stock and degree of urbanisation. Even here, nearly 70% of cities have identical effects. Despite the high level of net migration demonstrated to be largely caused by the above characteristics, intercity inequalities as measured by some of these forces has been growing over our time period. This suggests that a locational equilibrium has not yet been achieved. |
| Keywords: | Intra-provincial migration; intercity inequalities; multivariate choices; equilibrium. |
| JEL: | J61 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yor:yorken:12/16&r=mig |
| By: | Otto, Alkis Henri; Steinhardt, Max Friedrich |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new evidence on the effect of immigration on election outcomes. Our analysis makes use of data on city districts in Hamburg, Germany, during a period of substantial inflows of immigrants and asylum seekers. We find significant and robust effects for changes in foreigner shares on the electoral success of parties that built up a distinctive reputation in immigration politics. In particular, our fixed-effects estimates indicate a positive effect for xenophobic, extreme right-wing parties and an adverse effect for the Green party that actively campaigned for liberal immigration policies and minority rights. Overall, our results support the hypothesis that changes in local compositional amenities shape individual attitudes towards immigration. -- |
| Keywords: | immigration,elections,xenophobia |
| JEL: | D72 J15 R23 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hsbawp:022012&r=mig |
| By: | Andersen, Torben M (University of Aarhus) |
| Abstract: | The universal Scandinavian welfare model offers generous tax financed social benefits. The scheme is associated with workfare elements as a targeting device to direct benefits to those considered deserving. Thereby social insurance and egalitarian outcomes are achieved while work incentives and thus a high employment rate crucial for the financial viability of the model are maintained. The scope for this policy may depend critically on the characteristics of the population (abilities and preferences) and thus be significantly affected by immigration affecting the distribution of characteristics, especially if the model attracts immigrants with particular characteristics. The paper develops a simple model capable of capturing the rationale and essence of the above-mentioned redistribution model and considers its sensitivity and robustness to immigration, which may change the composition of the population in the ability and/or preference dimension. |
| Keywords: | work incentives, active labour market policy, redistribution |
| JEL: | F22 J68 I31 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6665&r=mig |
| By: | Francesc Ortega; Giovanni Peri (Department of Economics, University of California Davis) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the relationship between economic openness and income per person using cross-country data. To address endogeneity concerns we extend the instrumental-variables strategy first used by Frankel and Romer (1999). First, we show that bilateral geographic characteristics of countries such as distance, contiguity and commonality of language are successful in predicting openness to immigration and to trade. Equipped with these instruments we then establish a robust, positive effect of openness to immigration on long-run income per capita across countries using econometric specifications that include a comprehensive set of variables controlling for geography, climate, disease environment, and colonial past. In contrast the positive effect of trade openness on income vanishes once the control variables are included in the specification. Our main finding is robust to explicitly including institutional quality as an (endogenous) regressor, controlling for measures of early economic development, and measuring the share of immigrants in terms of efficiency units of labor. We also show that the main effect of migration operates through total factor productivity but not through institutional quality. This is consistent with the idea that immigration increases the variety of skills and ideas available for production. We also provide some more direct evidence of this channel by building an index of the degree of diversity in immigration flows by country of origin. Immigration also increases linguistic fractionalization which, in turn, has a negative effect on income per capita, however the direct gains from greater skill diversity are much larger than the costs arising from increased fractionalization due to immigrants. We do not find evidence of increased income inequality due to openness to immigration or trade. Finally we find evidence that immigration benefits the amount of innovation produced in a country as measured by patents. |
| Keywords: | International Migration, Trade, Income per person, Productivity, Geography, Institutions, Diversity. |
| JEL: | F22 E25 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–06–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cda:wpaper:12-13&r=mig |
| By: | D'Amuri Francesco; Giovanni Peri (Department of Economics, University of California Davis) |
| Abstract: | n this paper we analyze the impact of immigrants on the type and quantity of native jobs. We use data on fifteen Western European countries during the 1996-2010 period. We find that immigrants, by taking manual-routine type of occupations pushed natives towards more "complex" (abstract and communication) jobs. Such positive reallocation occurred while the total number of jobs held by natives was unaffected. This job upgrade was associated in the short run to a 0.6% increase in native wages for a doubling of the immigrants' share. These results are robust to the use of two alternative IV strategies based on past settlement of immigrants across European countries measured alternatively with Census or Labor Force data. The job upgrade slowed, but did not come to a halt, during the Great Recession. We also document the labor market flows behind it: the complexity of jobs offered to new native hires was higher relative to the complexity of lost jobs. Finally, we find evidence that such reallocation was significantly larger in countries with more flexible labor laws and that his tendency was particularly strong for less educated workers. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Jobs, Task specialization, Employment Protection Laws, Europe |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–06–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cda:wpaper:12-15&r=mig |
| By: | Furtado, Delia (University of Connecticut); Theodoropoulos, Nikolaos (University of Cyprus) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of ethnic networks in disability program take-up among working-age immigrants in the United States. We find that even when controlling for country of origin and area of residence fixed effects, immigrants residing amidst a large number of co-ethnics are more likely to receive disability payments when their ethnic groups have higher take-up rates. Although this pattern can be partially explained by cross-group differences in satisfying the work history or income and asset requirements of the disability programs, we also find that social norms and, to a lesser extent, information sharing play important roles. |
| Keywords: | social security disability insurance, supplementary security income, networks, immigrants |
| JEL: | C31 H55 I18 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6649&r=mig |
| By: | Donald R. Davis; Jonathan I. Dingel |
| Abstract: | Leading empiricists and theorists of cities have recently argued that the generation and exchange of ideas must play a more central role in the analysis of cities. This paper develops the first system of cities model with costly idea exchange as the agglomeration force. Our model replicates a broad set of established facts about the cross section of cities. It provides the first spatial equilibrium theory of why skill premia are higher in larger cities, how variation in these premia emerges from symmetric fundamentals, and why skilled workers have higher migration rates than unskilled workers when both are fully mobile. |
| JEL: | F1 F22 J24 J61 R1 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18188&r=mig |
| By: | Bram Timmermans; Ron Boschma |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the impact of labour mobility on plant performance in Denmark. Our study shows that the effect of labour mobility can only be assessed when one accounts for the type of skills that flow into the plant, and the degree to which these match the existing skills at the plant level. As expected, we found that the inflow of skills that are related to skills in the plant impacts positively on plant productivity growth, while inflows of skills that are similar to the plant skills have a negative effect. We used a sophisticated indicator of revealed relatedness that measures the degree of skill relatedness between sectors on the basis of the intensity of labour flows between sectors. Intra-regional mobility of skilled labour had a negative effect on plant performance, but the impacts of intra- and inter-regional mobility depended on the type of skills that flow into the plant. |
| Keywords: | labour mobility, revealed relatedness, plant performance, geographical proximity, related labour flows, Denmark |
| JEL: | J61 R11 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1213&r=mig |