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on Economics of Human Migration |
By: | Harriet Orcutt Duleep (Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy, The College of William and Mary); David Jaeger (Program in Economics, Graduate Center of the City University of New York); Mark C. Regets (National Science Foundation) |
Abstract: | This paper describes the theoretical underpinnings and provides empirical evidence for a model that predicts a positive impact of immigration on entrepreneurial activity. Immigrants, we hypothesize, facilitate innovation and entrepreneurship by being willing and able to invest in new skills. At the heart of this theoretical prediction is the observation that human capital not immediately valued in the U.S. labor market is useful for learning new skills. Because immigrants face a lower opportunity cost of investing in new skills or methods, this “transfer” of source-specific skills to the U.S. may lead immigrants to be more flexible in their human capital investments than observationally equivalent natives. Areas with large numbers of immigrants (even if they are not self-employed) may prove to be areas in which entrepreneurship and innovation are easier to accomplish. Our theory offers a unique perspective on the contributions of immigrants to economic development beyond traditional perspectives that focus on low-cost immigrant labor or immigrant entrepreneurship. |
Keywords: | immigration, innovation, entrepreneurship, human capital investment, skill transferability, opportunity cost, learning transferability |
JEL: | J15 J24 J39 J61 L26 |
Date: | 2013–03–17 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwm:wpaper:134&r=mig |
By: | Giulietti, Corrado (IZA); Wahba, Jackline (University of Southampton); Zimmermann, Klaus F. (IZA and University of Bonn) |
Abstract: | While there is evidence that return migration promotes entrepreneurship and self-employment of those who migrated, previous studies have not focused on whether migration provides the same benefits to individuals who did not migrate. Using a unique dataset that provides information on both current and return migrants in rural China (RUMiC), we investigate the impact of migration on entrepreneurship among individuals with no migration experience. We explore the self-employment choices of individuals who live in households with return migrants and individuals who live in households that have migrants currently in the city, comparing them with individuals living in non-migrant households. Our methodology allows us to control for the potential endogeneity between the migration and self-employment decisions. The results show that return migration promotes self-employment among household members that have not migrated. However, left-behind individuals are less likely to be self-employed when compared to those living in non-migrant households. |
Keywords: | rural to urban migration, RUMiC dataset, self-employment |
JEL: | J23 J61 O15 |
Date: | 2013–03 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7270&r=mig |
By: | Max Nathan |
Abstract: | High levels of net migration to the UK have contributed to growing cultural diversity, and researchers are turning their attention to the long-term effects of diversity on productivity. Yet little is known about these issues. This paper asks: what are the links between the composition of firms' top teams and business performance? What role do ethnic diversity and co-ethnic networks play? And do cities amplify or dampen these channels? I explore using a rich dataset of over 6,000 English firms. Owners, partners and directors set firms' strategic direction. Top team demography might generate production externalities through diversity (a wider range of ideas/ experiences, helping problem solving) and/or 'sameness' (via specialist knowledge or better access to international markets). These channels may be balanced by internal downsides (lower trust) and external barriers (discrimination), so that overall effects on business performance are unclear. In addition, urban locations (particularly big cities) may amplify any demographics-performance effects. I create a repeat cross-section of firms from the RDA National Business Survey. I construct measures of diversity and sameness across ethnicity and gender 'bases', alongside information on revenues, product and process innovation. I then regress these measures of business performance on top team demographics, plus firm level controls, area, year and detailed industry fixed effects. My results suggest a non-linear link between diversity and business performance, which is net positive for process innovation and net negative for turnover. Further tests on diverse and minority/female-headed firms find positive links for diverse top teams, negative for minority and female-only top teams. This implies that while diversity has internal and external benefits, penalties from being 'too diverse' probably result from external constraints. Further tests for intervening effects of capital cities, metropolitan hierarchies and urban form find some evidence of amplifying and dampening effects - which are generally stronger in London and larger cities. |
Keywords: | Cities, innovation, entrepreneurship, cultural diversity, migration, gender |
JEL: | J61 L21 M13 O11 O31 R23 |
Date: | 2013–03 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0129&r=mig |
By: | Harriet Orcutt Duleep (Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy, The College of William and Mary) |
Abstract: | This paper presents and tests a model that may partially explain why the demand for labor adapts to the availability of labor. In particular, I postulate that the cost of hiring declines with increases in the amount of labor available. The cost of hiring would decrease with a growth in available labor for two reasons: (1) individuals seeking employment would be coming to employers instead of the latter seeking them out and (2) the larger set of potential employees would increase the probability of employers finding individuals suitable for unfilled jobs. Moreover, individuals seeking employment may engender employers to think of new ways in which labor can be used. An increase in the number of entrants to the labor force would lower the cost of hiring and increase employment demand at any given wage rate. Hence, a change in the labor force—such as the addition of women or immigrants—does not increase unemployment as much as is predicted for current workers because demand for labor increases as the cost of hiring decreases. The paper may provide some insight into the relationship between the size of the labor force and employment demand as recently highlighted by Stock and Watson in their examination of the 2007-2009 recession. |
Keywords: | Labor demand, labor supply, cost of hiring |
JEL: | J23 J21 J11 J32 |
Date: | 2013–03–17 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwm:wpaper:132&r=mig |
By: | Julie Moschion (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne); Domenico Tabasso (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne) |
Abstract: | This paper studies the respective influence of intergenerational transmission and the environment in shaping individual trust. Focusing on second generation immigrants in Australia and the United States, we exploit the variation in the home and in the host country to separate the effect of the cultural background from that of the social and economic conditions on individual trust. Our results indicate that trust in the home country contributes to the trust of second generation immigrants in both host countries, but particularly so in the United States. Social and economic conditions in the host country, such as crime rate, economic inequality, race inequality and segregation by country of origin, also affect trust. Evidence for first generation immigrants confirms that the transmission of trust across generations is primarily important in the United States, and, that differences in trust levels between the two host countries increase with acculturation. |
Keywords: | Trust, migration, culture |
JEL: | J15 O15 Z10 |
Date: | 2013–02 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2013n02&r=mig |
By: | Piracha, Matloob (University of Kent); Tani, Massimiliano (Macquarie University, Sydney); Vaira-Lucero, Matias (Macquarie University, Sydney) |
Abstract: | This paper analyses the role of social capital on immigrants' labour market outcomes. We use the "principal component analysis" (PCA) to build an index of social networks and explore its impact on the probability of getting a job and on wage levels using the Households Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) longitudinal survey data. We find a positive effect of social capital on migrants' employment outcomes and wages, especially for women. Distinguishing employment into blue and white-collar jobs, we find that social capital only affects the probability of getting a white-collar job. These results suggest that promoting opportunities to create social capital has a beneficial effect on migrants' integration in the host country. |
Keywords: | immigrants, labour market, social capital, HILDA survey, Australia |
JEL: | F22 J01 J61 Z13 |
Date: | 2013–03 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7274&r=mig |
By: | Ekrame Boubtane (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne, CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS : UMR6587 - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I); Jean-Christophe Dumont (OECD - Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) |
Abstract: | This paper presents a reappraisal of the impact of migration on economic growth for 22 OECD countries between 1986 and 2006. It is based on a unique dataset that enables to distinguish net migration of the native-born and foreign-born by skill level. Migration is introduced in an augmented Solow-Swan model and the results are obtained using a GMM estimation, in order to deal with the potential endogeneity of the migration variables. In this framework, we identify a positive impact of the human capital brought by migrants on economic growth. The contribution of immigrants to the human capital accumulation tends to dominate the mechanical dilution effect, but the net effect is fairly small, including in countries which have highly selective migration policies. |
Keywords: | International migration; human capital; economic growth; generalized methods of moments |
Date: | 2013–02 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00800617&r=mig |
By: | Biavaschi, Costanza (IZA) |
Abstract: | Immigration authorities have seldom collected data on the out-migration of the foreign-born. As a consequence, several indirect approaches have been proposed to measure and study out-migration. This paper adds to the literature by using official statistics that directly identify the out-migration by demographic and socio-economic characteristics. Using time series and panel methods on the composition of U.S. out-migration between 1908 and 1957, the paper asks two questions. First, how did the out-migrants compare with in-migrants and permanent settlers? Second, did the economic and political events of the 1900s have any impact on the composition of this outflow? Results show that the out-migrants were primarily unskilled workers, but selection has become more positive over time. The economic and political shocks of the first half of the 20th century impacted the composition of the outflow, however, the more restrictive immigration policies have been associated primarily with longer stays. These findings complements the results based on indirect measures of out-migration, and are interestingly in line with analyses of out-migrant selectivity and impact of border controls on out-migrant behavior in later periods. |
Keywords: | return migration, out-migration, self-selection, quotas |
JEL: | F22 J61 N12 |
Date: | 2013–02 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7258&r=mig |
By: | Harriet Orcutt Duleep (Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy, The College of William and Mary); Mark C. Regets (National Science Foundation) |
Abstract: | The labor market "quality" of immigrants is a subject of debate among immigration researchers, and a major public policy concern. However, traditional methods of measuring human capital are particularly difficult to apply to recently arrived immigrants. Many factors that have a negative effect on entry earnings also increase either the incentive or the opportunity for faster human capital investment and earning growth. In addition, many country-of-origin acquired skills that are not immediately valued in the U.S. labor market are useful to the acquisition of U.S. skills. Thus entry earnings are not a good measure of the stock of immigrant human capital. This article presents a model of immigrant human capital investment and, using 1970-1990 census data, presents strong evidence of a systematic and important inverse relationship between initial immigrant earnings and subsequent earnings growth. This result-which persists even after accounting for differences in the immigration flows from different countries, sampling error, and the effects of emigration - is fundamentally different from both earlier cross-sectional estimates and more recent pooled models that constrain cohort growth rates to be equal. Although our model provides theoretical support for an inverse relationship only when source country human capital is held constant, faster earnings growth for low-entry-earnings immigrants is found empirically even when age and education are not controlled for. The immigrant human capital investment model presented here explores general principles that may apply to other labor market transitions that involve skill transferability-including occupational change and labor market reentry. |
Keywords: | immigration, migration, human capital investment, skill transferability, assimilation |
JEL: | J61 J24 F22 J1 |
Date: | 2013–03–17 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwm:wpaper:138&r=mig |
By: | Harriet Orcutt Duleep (Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy, The College of William and Mary) |
Abstract: | Using 1960-1990 census microdata, this paper presents two analyses that examine how the initial large differences in immigrant earnings by country of origin change with duration in the United States. The first analysis reveals that country of origin adds less to the explanation of earnings among adult male immigrants the longer they reside in the United States. A second complementary analysis reveals a decrease with time in the United States in the earnings dispersion of demographically comparable immigrants across countries of origin. Both results imply convergence in immigrant earnings by country of origin. We further test the sensitivity of these results to emigration bias—a potentially important, though generally ignored problem in studies of immigrant earnings growth. A theoretical analysis assesses the impact of hypothetical patterns of selective emigration on the two convergence results. We then introduce a technique that could be generally applied as an empirical test for emigration bias in immigrant studies. Both the theoretical and empirical analyses suggest that immigrant earnings convergence by country of origin is not an artifact of emigration. |
Keywords: | immigration, emigration, human capital investment, skill transferability, assimilation |
JEL: | J61 J24 F22 J1 |
Date: | 2013–03–17 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwm:wpaper:131&r=mig |
By: | Harriet Orcutt Duleep (Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy, The College of William and Mary) |
Abstract: | Two issues have taken center stage in the recent debates about U.S. immigration policy: one, illegal immigration and more generally the entrance of poorly educated individuals into the U.S. economy and two, whether the U.S. should continue its family-based admissions system or move towards a skills-based system. This paper analyzes these issues culling evidence from the history of U.S. immigration policy, the experiences of different types of U.S. immigrants, and crossnational comparisons. |
Keywords: | immigration, illegal immigration, effect on poorly educated natives, entrepreneurship, human capital investment, skill transferability, opportunity cost, learning transferability, family-based admissions, permanence |
JEL: | J15 J24 J39 J61 L26 |
Date: | 2013–03–17 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwm:wpaper:130&r=mig |
By: | Ekrame Boubtane (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne, CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS : UMR6587 - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I); Dramane Coulibaly (EconomiX - CNRS : UMR7166 - Université Paris X - Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense); Christophe Rault (LEO - Laboratoire d'économie d'Orleans - CNRS : UMR6221 - Université d'Orléans) |
Abstract: | This paper examines empirically the interaction between immigration and host country economic conditions. We employ a panel VAR techniques to use a large annual dataset on 22 OECD countries over the period 1987-2009. The VAR approach allows to addresses the endogeneity problem by allowing the endogenous interaction between the variables in the system. Our results provide evidence of migration contribution to host economic prosperity (positive impact on GDP per capita and negative impact on aggregate unemployment, native-and foreign-born unemployment rates). We also find that migration is influenced by host economic conditions (migration responds positively to host GDP per capita and negatively to host total unemployment rate). |
Keywords: | Immigration; growth; unemployment; panel VAR |
Date: | 2013–02 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00800608&r=mig |
By: | Guadalupe Serrano-Domingo (University of Valencia); Francisco Requena-Silvente (University of Valencia) |
Abstract: | The migration-trade link has been studied extensively since the mid nineties, finding a positive impact through different channels. Based on the generalized propensity score (GPS) methodology, we estimate a dose-response function, depicting a non-linear impact of immigration on exports using regional data for Spain and Italy. For both countries the elasticity of province exports to immigration from a given nationality is always positive. However, it is magnitude varies with the level of immigrants: increasing with less than 100 immigrants; decreasing between 100 and 1500; increasing again with more than 1500. In contrast to previous studies that use country-level data, we find no exhaustion point in the effectiveness of the immigration networks on regional exports. |
Keywords: | Immigration, exports, generalized propensity score, dose-response function, Spanish provinces, Italian provinces |
JEL: | C21 F14 F22 |
Date: | 2013–03 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eec:wpaper:1310&r=mig |
By: | Datta Gupta, Nabanita (Aarhus University); Kromann, Lene (CEBR, Copenhagen) |
Abstract: | Using a search model for Danish labor market entrants, we are one of the first studies to test whether second‐generation immigrants have the same job‐offer arrival and layoff rates as ethnic Danes have. We contribute to the search literature by incorporating matching as a way to ensure sub‐sample homogeneity. Thus, we match second‐generation immigrants to their ethnic Danish twins on the basis of parental characteristics and informal network quality. There are big differences before matching, but after matching, second‐generation immigrants perform as well or better than their ethnic Dane counterparts do on the labor market, though not with respect to layoffs. This result is mainly driven by the group of high school graduates and those with a primary school education only. Second generation immigrants with vocational education, males in particular, face both significantly lower arrival rates when unemployed and significantly higher layoff rates than those of their ethnic Danish twins. |
Keywords: | firm behavior, equilibrium search model, matching, second‐generation immigrants |
JEL: | J15 J61 J71 |
Date: | 2013–02 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7257&r=mig |
By: | Henrik Jacobsen Kleven; Camille Landais; Emmanuel Saez; Esben Anton Schultz |
Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of income taxation on the international migration and earnings of top earners using a Danish preferential foreigner tax scheme and population-wide Danish administrative data. This scheme, introduced in 1991, allows new immigrants with high earnings to be taxed at a preferential flat rate for a duration of three years. We obtain three main results. First, the scheme has doubled the number of highly paid foreigners in Denmark relative to slightly less paid ineligible foreigners, which translates into a very large elasticity of migration with respect to the net-of-tax rate on foreigners, between 1.5 and 2. Hence, preferential tax schemes for highly paid foreign workers could create severe tax competition between countries. Second, we find compelling evidence of a negative effect of scheme-induced increases in the net-of-tax rate on pre-tax earnings at the individual level. This finding cannot be explained by the standard labor supply model where pay equals marginal productivity, but it can be rationalized by a matching frictions model with wage bargaining where there is a gap between pay and marginal productivity. Third, we find no evidence of positive or negative spillovers of the scheme-induced influx of high-skilled foreigners on the earnings of highly paid natives. |
JEL: | H24 J61 |
Date: | 2013–03 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18885&r=mig |
By: | Delia Furtado; Nikolaos Theodoropoulos |
Abstract: | Immigrants residing among many people who share their ethnic background are especially likely to receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for a disability when they belong to high SSI take-up immigrant groups. After showing that this relationship cannot be fully explained by differences in health, we consider the likely sources of these network effects by separately examining their role in the decision to apply for SSI and, conditional on applying, their role in determining who ultimately receives benefits. Our results suggest that networks may increase the probability of applying for SSI despite minor disabilities, but it is unlikely that network effects are driven by egregious lies on applications. |
Date: | 2013–02 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2013-7&r=mig |
By: | Baert, Stijn (Ghent University); Cockx, Bart (Ghent University) |
Abstract: | This article decomposes the observed gaps in educational attainment and school-to-work transitions between grandchildren of natives and immigrants in Belgium into (i) differences in observed family endowments and (ii) a residual "pure ethnic gap". It innovates by explicitly taking delays in educational attainment into account, by identifying the moments at which the pure ethnic gaps arise, by disentangling the decision to continue schooling at the end of a school year from the achievement within a particular grade, and by integrating the language spoken at home among observed family endowments. The pure ethnic gap in educational attainment is found to be small if delays are neglected, but substantial if not and for school-to-work transitions. It is shown that more than 20% of the pure ethnic gap in graduating from secondary school without delay originates in tenth grade. Language usage explains only part of the gap in school-to-work transitions for low educated. |
Keywords: | dynamic discrete choice, dynamic selection bias, educational attainment, school-to-work transitions, ethnic minorities, discrimination |
JEL: | C35 J15 J70 |
Date: | 2013–03 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7262&r=mig |
By: | Chakraborty, M. |
Abstract: | In recent time Delhi has revealed its ambitions as a global city. The consequent need for cheap, casual, migrant labour for maintaining its world-scale ambitions has been highlighted in a lot of literature, particularly in the post Commonwealth Games (CWG) period. The migrant labourers in the informal economy of Delhi are seen as oppressed, particularly if they belong to a subordinated social group, like the Muslim male migrants. However, there is need to examine the homogenization implied by ‘Muslim male migrants’. This research aims to challenge the one-dimensional depiction of Muslim male migrants as ‘victims’. Analysing the narratives of two groups of Muslim migrant men in a South Delhi neighbourhood, this research tries to critically look at stable markers of identity such as ethnicity, gender and class. The research reveals identities as fluid, multiple and relational. The men emerge as complex subjects—not just passive ‘victims’ but capable of asserting agency, often through the strategic mobilisation of their multiple identities. |
Keywords: | ethnicity;men;migrants;multiple identities;Afghan migrants;Bengali migrants;Delhi;Delhi Master Plan 2021;Muslim men;Right to the City;feminist methodology;informal economy;masculinities;rickshaw-pullers;urban citizenship |
Date: | 2013–02–28 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:euriss:552&r=mig |
By: | Swenson, David A. |
Abstract: | Iowa endured high outmigration rates among young adults during the 2000 to 2010 period. In light of accelerating exits from the labor force as the "baby boom" generation reaches retirement age and Iowa's somewhat smaller labor force ages 25 through 44 than the national average, the state's labor force is projected to contract.This report uses age and sex specific mortality and migration rates from the 2000 to 2010 period to project Iowa's working age population by 2020. Overall, the projections indicate an expected contraction in the Iowa population ages 16 to 64 of 74,142 persons. If that is the case, Iowa's economy may have trouble expanding. |
Keywords: | labor force; migration; population projection; survival rates; economic growth |
Date: | 2013–03–13 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:36040&r=mig |
By: | Andries Brandsma; d'Artis Kancs; Damiaan Persyn |
Abstract: | The present paper describes the modelling of regional labour markets in the newly developed dynamic spatial general equilibrium model RHOMOLO, where the labour market equilibrium is determined by firms' labour demand, a wage-curve determining unemployment, and inter- regional labour migration. The RHOMOLO model is parameterised by estimating the key structural parameters econometrically. In order to illustrate the potential of the proposed dynamic spatial general equilibrium approach for analysing regionally integrated labour markets, we carry out simulations showing the effects of a reduction in transportation cost, and assess the impact on regional labour markets. Our results confirm that wages and unemployment are by far the most important channels of adjustment to macro-economic and policy shocks in the EU. In contrast, labour migration plays a secondary role in labour market adjustments in the EU. Our results also suggest that the relationship between market access, labour demand and labour supply is non-linear and spatially inter-dependent, which underlines the importance of the proposed dynamic spatial general equilibrium approach. |
Date: | 2013 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:vivwps:36&r=mig |
By: | Juravle, Daniel |
Abstract: | Migration is an important component of contemporary society. Leaving the homeland for a better life and a well paid job is currently the most dynamic form of working population movement. For the host countries migration provides experienced cheap workforce capable of high performance. But the current economic crisis drastically reduced immigrant inflows thanks to high unemployment rates and less available work permits for migrant destination countries. Despite expectations, the return migration stayed at low levels because usually the origin country economic downturn was even worse; and the fall in remittances was also smaller than the statistics said. For Romania, emigrants represent a considerable loss because they are still reflecting the reduced capacity of the Romanian economy to generate jobs and appropriate remuneration. During the crisis, the migration outflows still continuated to grow although the remittances significally reduced, showing that they no longer go so well. Beneficiary are also the mother countries which through the money send by the citizens that work in another country they cover most of the times, a significant part of GDP. All the aspects mentioned above including the level of remittances and the effects of the migration will be analyzed in this paper. |
Keywords: | labor market, emigration, remittances, emigrants, economic growth. |
JEL: | E24 F22 R11 R51 |
Date: | 2013–03–12 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:44989&r=mig |
By: | Yuji Tamura |
Abstract: | This study contributes to the small theoretical literature on human smuggling by assuming for the first time asymmetric information in analysis. The assumption raises the possibility of an adverse selection equilibrium where only exploitative smugglers are employed at a low fee even though migrants are willing to pay nonexploitative smugglers a high fee. More importantly, I find that improved inland apprehension of migrants may increase the incidence of migrant exploitation while failing to decrease smuggling attempts. Furthermore, improved border apprehension of migrants and smugglers may not affect the market at all. |
Keywords: | illegal migration, people smuggling, migrant exploitation, human trafficking, adverse selection |
JEL: | F22 J68 D82 L15 K42 |
Date: | 2013–03 |
URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:acb:cbeeco:2013-605&r=mig |