|
on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Vaillant, Julia |
| Abstract: | Most longitudinal surveys recontact households only if they are still living in the same dwelling, producing very high attrition rates, especially in developing countries where rural–urban migration is prevalent. In this paper, we discuss the implications of the various follow-up rules used in longitudinal surveys in the light of an original tracking survey from Madagascar. This survey attempted in 2005 to search and interview all individuals who were living in the village of Bepako in 1995, the baseline year of a yearly survey, the Rural Observatories. The tracking survey yielded an individual recontact rate of 78.8 percent, more than halving attrition compared to a standard dwelling-based follow-up rule. The tracking reveals a very high rate of out-migration (38.8 percent) and household break-ups, as three-quarters of recontacted households had divided between 1995 and 2005. The average income growth of the sample over the period increases by 28 percentage points when follow-up is extended to those who moved out of their household or village, suggesting that dwelling-based panels give a partial view of the welfare dynamics of the baseline sample. A higher baseline income per capita is associated with a higher probability of staying in Bepako and of being found in the tracking if one moved out. The hardest people to find are the poorest and most isolated. Special attention should be paid to collecting data that enable the identification and follow-up of individuals, without which attrition is likely to remain a source of bias even after a tracking procedure is carried out. |
| Keywords: | Mobilité; Enquêtes tracking; Données de panel; Mobility; Attrition; Tracking surveys; Panel data; |
| JEL: | O15 O12 I32 C81 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:dauphi:urn:hdl:123456789/5443&r=mig |
| By: | Giulia Bettin ; Riccardo Lucchetti |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) in the 1997-2009 period for a large sample of migrants from 84 countries in order to develop an empirical model for the propensity by migrants to remit. Our model takes into full account the intertemporal aspects of the problem, which has been ignored by a large part of the applied literature, despite its theoretical and empirical importance. We find that most results already established in the empirical literature are confirmed; however, the intertemporal nature of the remittance behaviour emerges very clearly, giving rise to individual patterns which are difficult to synthesize by a simple description. Building on our framework, we find also support for theoretical models which predict different remittance time paths between return and permanent migrants. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Remittances, German Socio Economic Panel |
| JEL: | F24 F22 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp505&r=mig |
| By: | Hirsch, Boris; Jahn, Elke J. |
| 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 immi-grants 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 employers profit from discriminating against immigrants. -- Mithilfe eines semistrukturellen Schätzansatzes, der auf ei-nem dynamischen Monopsonmodell beruht, untersuchen wir das Arbeitsangebot von Immigranten und Einheimischen auf Firmenebene. Unter Verwendung von Verweil-dauermodellen und eines großen administrativen Firmen-Beschäftigten-Datensatzes für Deutschland finden wir, dass Immigranten eine geringere Arbeitsangebotselasti-zität auf Firmenebene aufweisen als Einheimische, sofern für unbeobachtete Personenheterogenität kontrolliert wird. Wird monopsonistische Lohnsetzung unter-stellt, so folgt aus den gefundenen Elastizitätsunterschieden ein Lohnabschlag für Immigranten von 4.7 Logpunkten. Dies entspricht nahezu dem gesamten unerklärten Lohndifferential zwischen Immigranten und Einheimischen in Höhe von 2.9-5.9 Log-punkten. Unsere Ergebnisse implizieren, dass Arbeitgeber von Lohndiskriminierung gegen Immigranten profitieren. |
| Keywords: | monopsony,native-immigrant wage differential,discrimination,Germany |
| JEL: | J42 J61 J71 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:faulre:79&r=mig |
| By: | Z. Eylem Gevrek (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany); Deniz Gevrek (Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, Texas); Sonam Gupta (Food and Resource Economics Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA) |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of culture on the work behavior of second-generation immigrant women in Canada. We contribute to the current literature by analyzing the role of intermarriage in intergenerational transmission of culture and its subsequent effect on labor market outcomes. Using relative female labor force participation and total fertility rates in the country of ancestry as cultural proxies, we find that culture matters for the female labor supply. Cultural proxies are significant in explaining number of hours worked by second-generation women with immigrant parents. Our results provide evidence that the impact of cultural proxies is significantly larger for women with immigrant parents who share same ethnic background than for those with intermarried parents. The fact that the effect of culture is weaker for women who were raised in intermarried families stresses the importance of intermarriage in assimilation process. Our findings imply that government policies targeting labor supply of women may have differential effect on labor market behavior of immigrant women of different ancestries. |
| Keywords: | culture, immigrant women, intermarriage, labor supply, immigrant assimilation |
| JEL: | J12 J15 J22 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–11–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:knz:dpteco:1228&r=mig |
| By: | Neubecker, Nina; Smolka, Marcel |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence that transnational networks, defined as networks operating across nationalities, are shaping observed patterns of international migration. In a stylized model of migration with random friendship formation, individuals from a given origin country are attracted to destinations hosting large migrant communities from countries which are culturally and geographically close to their own origin country. In addition, the attracting force of a large community of co-national migrants is the larger, the larger the community of migrants from other culturally proximate countries in the same destination. Both predictions are supported by aggregate migration data on international migration to Spain, detailed by origin country and destination province. Our findings imply that the literature estimating network effects in migration has been overly restrictive in its definition of migrant networks. -- |
| Keywords: | International migration,Co-national and transnational friendships,Network effect,Spain |
| JEL: | F22 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuewef:46&r=mig |
| By: | Yvonni Markaki (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex); Simonetta Longhi (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex) |
| Abstract: | Different disciplines within the social sciences have produced large theoretical and empirical literatures to explain the determinants of anti-immigration attitudes. We bring together these literatures in a unified framework and identify testable hypothesis on what characteristics of the individual and of the local environment are likely to have an impact on anti-immigration attitudes. While most of the previous literature focuses on the explanation of attitudes at the individual level, we focus on the impact on regional characteristics (the local context). Our aim is to explain why people living in different regions differ in terms of their attitudes towards immigration. We isolate the impact of regions from regressions using individual-level data and explain this residual regional heterogeneity in attitudes with aggregate level indicators of regional characteristics. We find that regions with a higher percentage of immigrants born outside the EU and a higher unemployment rate among the immigrant population show a higher probability that natives express negative attitudes to immigration. Regions with a higher unemployment rate among natives however, show less pronounced anti-immigrant attitudes. |
| Keywords: | Anti-immigration attitudes; Regional characteristics; Europe |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J61 R19 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nor:wpaper:2012032&r=mig |
| By: | Markaki, Yvonni |
| Abstract: | This paper explores individual and regional characteristics as sources of anti-immigration attitudes of white UK born respondents using survey data from the five rounds of the European Social Survey, between 2002 and 2010, alongside regional indicators of population composition, labour market and skills context computed from the Labour Force Survey. Contrary to expectations, the regional unemployment rates for natives and immigrants are not statistically associated with a higher or lower probability of expressing anti-immigration attitudes. Furthermore, findings sug- gest that native respondents are more likely to support immigration restriction of those from poorer countries regardless of whether they are European or not and irrespective of ethnicity. |
| Date: | 2012–10–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:iserwp:2012-24&r=mig |
| By: | Simonetta Longhi (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex); Magdalena Rokicka (Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex) |
| Abstract: | The 2004 accession of Eastern European countries (EU8) to the European Union has generated concerns about the influx of low-skill immigrants to the Western member states (EU15). Only three countries, namely Ireland, Sweden, and the UK, did not impose restrictions to immigration from Eastern Europe. Did the elimination of barrier to immigration have an impact on the quality of immigrants arriving to the UK? Using EU15 immigrants as a control group, we find systematic differences between EU8 immigrants arrived before and after the enlargement. The elimination of barriers to immigration seems to have changed the quantity and quality of EU8 immigrants to the UK. |
| Keywords: | EU enlargement; East-West migration, UK labour market, self-selection. |
| JEL: | F22 J30 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1232&r=mig |
| By: | Emmanouil Tranos (VU University Amsterdam); Masood Gheasi (VU University Amsterdam); Peter Nijkamp (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Migration has become a prominent research theme in geography and regional science and it has been approached from various methodological angles. Nonetheless, a common missing element in most migration studies is the lack of awareness of the overall network topology, which characterizes migration flows. Although gravity models focus on spatial interaction - in this case migration - between pairs of origins and destinations, they do not provide insights into the topology of a migration network. In the present paper, we will employ network analysis to address such systemic research questions, in particular: How centralized or dispersed are migration flows and how does this structure evolve over time? And how is migration activity clustered between specific countries, and if so, do such patterns change over time? Going a step further than exploratory network analysis, this paper estimates international migration models for OECD countries based on a dual ap proach: gravity models estimated using conventional econometric approaches such as panel data regressions as well as network-based regression techniques such as MRQAP. The empirical results reveal not only the determinants of international migration among OECD countries, but also the value of blending network analysis with more conventional analytic methods. |
| Keywords: | immigration; gravity model; complex networks; community detection; MRQAP |
| JEL: | F22 O15 D85 |
| Date: | 2012–11–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20120123&r=mig |
| By: | Paola Conconi (Université Libre de Bruxelles, ECARES and CEPR); Giovanni Facchini (University of Nottingham, Universitá degli Studi di Milano, CEPR, CES-Ifo, IZA and LdA); Max F. Steinhardt (Hamburg Institute for International Economics, LdA and CELSI); Maurizio Zanardi (Université Libre de Bruxelles and ECARES) |
| Abstract: | Over the last decades, the United States has become increasingly integrated in the world economy. Very low trade barriers and comparatively liberal migration policies have made these developments possible. What drove US congressmen to support the recent wave of globalization? While much of the literature has emphasized the differences that exist between the political economy of trade and migration, in this paper we find that important similarities should not be overlooked. In particular, our analysis of congressional voting between 1970 and 2006 suggests that economic drivers that work through the labor market play an important role in shaping representatives’ behavior on both types of policies. Representatives from more skilled-labor abundant districts are more likely to support both trade liberalization and a more open stance vis-à-vis unskilled immigration. Still, important systematic differences exist: welfare state considerations and network effects have an impact on the support for immigration liberalization, but not for trade; Democratic lawmakers are systematically more likely to support a more open migration stance than their Republican counterparts, whereas the opposite is true for trade liberalization. |
| Keywords: | Trade Reforms, Immigration Reforms. |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nor:wpaper:2012031&r=mig |
| By: | Felbermayr, Gabriel; Grossmann, Volker; Kohler, Wilhelm |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we provide an overview of the relationship between international migration and international trade as well as capital movements. After taking a brief historical perspective, we first investigate migration flows between two countries in a static, neoclassical context. We allow for a disaggregated view of migration that distinguishes between different types of labor and emphasizes the distinction between migration flows and pre-existing stocks. We focus on different welfare channels, on internal income distribution, international income convergence and on whether migration and trade are substitutes or complements. Complementarity/substitutability hinges on whether countries share the same technology, and the pivotal question is whether or not technology is convex. Generally, under substitutability between trade and migration and with convex technology, globalization tends to lead to convergence. Moreover, under non-convex technology trade and migration tend to be complements. Turning to dynamic models with capital adjustment costs and capital mobility, the same is true for the relationship between migration and capital flows. Nevertheless, in neoclassical models, we may observe emigration at the same time as capital accumulates during the transition to a steady state. Moreover, we can explain reverse migration. We also touch upon the effects of migration on the accumulation of both knowledge and human capital, by invoking endogenous growth theory. Finally, we review the empirical literature exploring the link between migration and trade. The discussion is based on the so called gravity model of trade, in which trade between pairs of countries is related to measures of their respective sizes, preferences, and trade costs. We revisit the identification of the overall trade-creating effect of migration and its break-down into the trade channel and the preference channel. We clarify the role of product differentiation for the size of estimated effects, discuss the role of immigrants' education and occupation, and emphasize direct and indirect networks and their trade-enhancing potential. |
| Keywords: | migration; international trade; capital movements; capital formation; globalization |
| JEL: | F1 F2 F4 |
| Date: | 2012–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fri:fribow:fribow00436&r=mig |
| By: | E. J. Wilson (Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI)); K. Jayanthakumaran; R. Verma |
| Abstract: | This paper considers two major issues that need to be treated as matters of urgency. First, internal (within country) migrations in the Asian (ACI) region are mostly undocumented and large. It is shown there are significant differences in wages and human development measures to which migrants will respond. Our first (of two) recommendation(s) is the need to collect better information on migration and for wage premiums and discounts to be estimated across sectors and countries. The second major issue is the emerging demographic imbalances in the form of aging, which will give dependency ratios that have never been experienced in all of recorded human existence. This needs urgent attention and the development of appropriate migration policies. Whilst it is possible to share the burdens of ageing and dependency through migration, this will not happen under present arrangements. Migration cannot continue to be treated differently to trade and finance. A framework needs to be developed to provide a coherent set of policies relating to migration and social welfare, within and across countries in the Asian region. Our second recommendation is for the East Asia Summit (ASEAN+10) to set up a high level working group to consider possible future harmonized migration based policies, bringing together relevant economic, political, social and legal issues. This should encompass the recent ASEAN leadership on the rights of migrant workers and labor work programs. It complements the Summit’s focus on education and human resource development and heeds the World Economic Forum’s call for Asian leadership in enhancing regional connectivity (expanded to include human resources). As we have argued many times in this paper, increasing the mobility of humans is the best way to not only promote economic efficiency, but to provide freedom and significant improvements in their wellbeing and quality of life. |
| Keywords: | Demographics, Labor Mobility, productivity, human development measures, East Asia Summit, appropriate migration policies |
| JEL: | F22 J31 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:laborw:23348&r=mig |
| By: | Raquel Carrasco; J. Ignacio García Pérez |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how unemployment and employment durations for immigrants and natives respond differently to changes in the economic conditions due to the 2008 crisis and to the receipt of unemployment benefits when the economy declines. Using administrative data for Spain, we estimate multi-state multi-spell duration models that disentangle unobserved heterogeneity from true duration dependence. Our findings suggest that immigrants are more sensitive to changes in economic conditions, both in terms of unemployment and employment hazards. Moreover, the effect of the business cycle is not constant but decreases with duration at a higher rate among immigrants. The results also point to a disincentive effect of unemployment benefits on unemployment duration, which is stronger for immigrants but only at the beginning of the unemployment spell and mainly during good times (before the 2008 recession). Finally, we find evidence of a positive effect of unemployment benefits on subsequent employment duration, but only for native workers with temporary contracts. Nonetheless, this effect vanishes as workers qualify again for unemployment benefits. |
| Keywords: | Duration models, Multiple spells, Unobserved heterogeneity, Unemployment benefits, Economic cycle, Immigration |
| JEL: | J64 J61 C23 C45 J65 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:werepe:we1232&r=mig |
| By: | Ben-Gad, M. |
| Abstract: | How much can governments shift the cost of government expenditure from today’s voters to tomorrow’s generations of immigrants, without resorting to taxation that is explicitly discriminatory? I demonstrate that if their societies are absorbing continuous flows of new immigrants, we should expect governments that represent the interests of today’s population, even if that population is altruistically linked to future generations, to choose policies that shift some portion of the tax burden to the future. This bias in favor of deficit finance is not infinite. Today’s population or their descendents, together with future immigrants, ultimately pay the higher taxes necessary to finance the accumulated debt, and live with the additional excess burdens these higher taxes generate. For a given rate of immigration and policy horizon, governments balance the deadweight losses associated with fluctuating tax rates against the benefits that accrue to the initial resident population from shifting part of the burden of financing government expenditure to future immigrant families. To measure the deficit bias, I analyse the dynamic behavior of an optimal growth model with overlapping dynasties and factor taxation, calibrated for the US economy. Models with overlapping infinite-lived dynasties allow for a very clear distinction between natural population growth (an increase in the size of existing dynasties) and immigration (the addition of new dynasties). They also provide an alternative to the strict dichotomy between models with overlapping generations, where agents disregard the impact of their choices on future generations, and the quasi-Ricardian world of infinite-lived dynasties with representative agents that fully participate in both the economy and the political system in every period. The trajectory of the debt burden predicted by the model is a good match for the rise in US Federal government debt since the early 1980’s, as well as the increases in debt projected by the Congressional Budget Office over the next few decades. |
| Keywords: | immigration; fiscal policy; public debt |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cty:dpaper:12/09&r=mig |