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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Isphording, Ingo (Ruhr University Bochum) |
| Abstract: | This study quantifies the disadvantage in the formation of literacy skills of immigrants that arises from the linguistic distance between mother tongue and host country language. Combining unique cross-country data on literacy scores with information on the linguistic distance between languages, gaps in literacy test scores are estimated. Linguistically distant immigrants face significant initial disadvantages of linguistic origin that exceed existing differentials across wage distributions and between employed and unemployed subpopulations. The importance of the linguistic origin increases with the age at migration, confirming the linguistic Critical Period hypothesis. Assimilation in literacy scores is moderate and does not offset the initial disadvantage. |
| Keywords: | linguistic distance, literacy, human capital, immigrants |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7360&r=mig |
| By: | Commander, Simon (EBRD, London); Nikolaychuk, Olexandr (CERGE-EI); Vikhrov, Dmytro (CERGE-EI) |
| Abstract: | We study selection and labour market outcomes among Ukrainian migrants using unique data from a survey conducted in Ukraine in August – October 2011. We find that migrants are positively selected in terms of age and education. Yet, this is not associated, as might be expected, with their labour market outcomes. Notably, around half of the migrants are employed in occupations for which they are over-qualified. We conjecture that this downshifting in occupation can partly be explained by the absence of the conventional link between education and skills in Ukraine. To circumvent this problem, we compare pre- and post-migration labour market outcomes and find that the probability of downshifting decreases with the duration of stay in a foreign country and knowledge of the local language or English. Significantly, someone who downshifted prior to migration in the home country was more likely to downshift abroad. Further, we find that migrants to the EU are more likely to downshift when compared to other destinations. |
| Keywords: | migration, selection, occupation downshift, survey data |
| JEL: | F22 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7348&r=mig |
| By: | Majumder, Rajarshi |
| Abstract: | Migration is a universal phenomenon. From time immemorial women and men have travelled in search of better living. Historical nomadic instinct of man had been in tune with his necessities – more endurable climate, adequate water supply, fertile land and general availability of resources have attracted the human being always. It is expected that with development migration of due to Push factors will decrease while that due to Pull factors will increase. One of the important facets of labour market is therefore the profile of migrant workers and the nature of their movements. In spite of extensive work on migration in Indian context, recent studies on migration in India have focussed mainly on rural-urban migration or on migration from/between specific regions. The present paper explores the post reform nature of migration in India with special focus on migrant workers. Types of movement, profile of migrants vis-a-vis the natives, occupational distribution, and wages received by them have been examined. This has been contrasted with the pre-reform situation. Whether wage setting process is different for migrants is also examined through estimation of the wage function. Results suggest that migration among males are more of an ‘assured’ type rather than a ‘search’ type, in response to regular wage employment, where the better endowed / skilled / trained are moving. Pull factors are definitely playing more important role than push factors in this regard, though in post-reform period push factors have strengthened. Though better-off states with lower incidence of poverty and higher per capita income have higher migration rates, net out migration rates are considerably higher for poorer states indicating that condition of the source region is perhaps the most important factor in migration decisions. |
| Keywords: | Migration; Wage Setting; Human Capital; |
| JEL: | J24 J31 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2012–09–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:44765&r=mig |
| By: | McKenzie, David; Siegel, Melissa |
| Abstract: | Most migration surveys do not ask about the legal status of migrants due to concerns about the sensitivity of this question. List randomization is a technique that has been used in a number of other social science applications to elicit sensitive information. This paper trials this technique by adding it to surveys conducted in Ethiopia, Mexico, Morocco, and the Philippines. It shows how, in principal, this can be used both to give an estimate of the overall rate of illegal migration in the population being surveyed, as well as to determine illegal migration rates for subgroups such as more or less educated households. The results suggest that there is some useful information in this method: higher rates of illegal migration in countries where illegal migration is thought to be more prevalent and households who say they have a migrant are more likely to report having an illegal migrant. Nevertheless, some of the other findings also suggest some possible inconsistencies or noise in the conclusions obtained using this method. The authors suggest directions for future attempts to implement this approach in migration surveys. |
| Keywords: | Population Policies,Anthropology,Banks&Banking Reform,International Migration,Human Migrations&Resettlements |
| Date: | 2013–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6426&r=mig |
| By: | De Weerdt, Joachim; Hirvonen, Kalle |
| Abstract: | Over the past two decades, more than half the population in rural Tanzania migrated within the country, profoundly changing the nature of traditional institutions such as informal risk sharing. Mass internal migration has created geographically disperse networks, on which the authors collected detailed panel data. By quantifying how shocks and consumption co-vary across linked households, they show how migrants unilaterally insure their extended family members at home. This finding contradicts risk-sharing models based on reciprocity, but is consistent with assistance driven by social norms. Migrants sacrifice 3 to 7 percent of their very substantial consumption growth to provide this insurance, which seems too trivial to have any stifling effect on their growth through migration. |
| Keywords: | Population Policies,Consumption,Anthropology,Inequality,Labor Policies |
| Date: | 2013–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6429&r=mig |
| By: | Cygan-Rehm, Kamila |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the role of home country's birth rates in shaping immigrants' fertility. We use the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) to study completed fertility of first generation immigrants who arrived from different countries and at different times. We find that women from countries where the aggregate birth rate is high tend to have significantly more children than women from countries with low birth rates. This relationship is attenuated by selection operating towards destination country. In addition, the fertility rates of source countries explain a large proportion of fertility differentials between immigrants and German natives. The results suggest that home country's culture affects immigrants' long-run outcomes and therefore favor the socialization hypothesis. -- |
| Keywords: | migration,fertility,socialization,culture,Germany |
| JEL: | J13 J15 Z10 Z13 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwqwdp:042013&r=mig |
| By: | Wasana Karunarathne; John Gibson |
| Abstract: | The growing literature on financial literacy suggests people in many countries are poorly prepared for making major financial decisions. One important sub-population rarely examined by financial literacy studies is immigrants, who have specialized financial needs related to remittances. This paper examines variation in financial literacy amongst two actively remitting immigrant groups in Australia – Sri Lankans and Samoans – using surveys designed and supervised by the authors. Paying attention to remittance-related and credit-related literacy, large gaps in the level of financial literacy of the two groups are shown, which are due especially to differences in educational attainment. The wide variation in the transactions costs of various remittance channels available to these two groups suggest that many immigrants could save several hundred dollars per year if improved financial literacy helped to produce more efficient remittance choices. |
| Keywords: | Financial literacy; Immigrants; Remittances; Transaction Costs; Information; Australia |
| JEL: | D14 F24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mlb:wpaper:1170&r=mig |
| By: | Anja Koebrich Leon (Institute of Economics, Leuphana University Lueneburg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | The participation rate of women in the labor market shows a sizeable variation across countries and across time. Following studies conducted for North America, this section tests the hypothesis whether, next to structural conditions, cultural norms with regard to existing role models within society about working women influence a woman’s participation decision. While using the epidemiological approach to economics, which aims to compare economic outcomes between immigrant groups to assess the role cultural factors may play, the persistence of heterogeneity in labor market outcomes across immigrant groups is used to assess the role cultural norms regarding working women may play in explaining differences in labor market outcomes between immigrant groups for first and second generation women in Germany. To overcome the problems associated with a qualitative proxy of culture, such as religiosity or ethnicity, the impact of culture on women working behavior is proxied by past female labor force participation (LFP) rates from the woman’s country of origin or their parents, respectively. Using data from the GSOEP for the years 2001 to 2011, compared to findings from Fernández and Fogli (2009) and Gevrek et al 2011, which use large census data sets, I find statistically significant results for the association between cultural norms towards labor market behavior of women, as measured either by past female LFP in country of origin, country of origin indicator variables or attitudes towards working women prevalent in their home country, merely for first generation immigrants in Germany. However, while cultural heritage was found to play an inferior role for second generation immigrant women, religious identity, as a specific cultural trait, exhibits a strong negative relation with Muslim labor market behavior for both generations. |
| Keywords: | female labor force participation; cultural norms; ethnicity; ethnic identity; religious identity |
| JEL: | J15 J21 Z10 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:270&r=mig |
| By: | S. BAERT; B. COCKX |
| 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 morethan 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: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:13/832&r=mig |
| By: | Sinha, Paramita; Cropper, Maureen L. (Resources for the Future) |
| Abstract: | We value climate amenities by estimating a discrete location choice model for households that changed metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) between 1995 and 2000. The utility of each MSA depends on location-specific amenities, earnings opportunities, housing costs, and the cost of moving to the MSA from the household’s 1995 location. We use the estimated trade-off between wages and climate amenities to value changes in mean winter and summer temperatures. At median temperatures for 1970 to 2000, a 1°F increase in winter temperature is worth less than a 1° decrease in summer temperature; however, the reverse is true at winter temperatures below 25°F. These results imply an average welfare loss of 2.7 percent of household income in 2020 to 2050 under the B1 (climate-friendly) scenario from the special report on emissions scenarios (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2000), although some cities in the Northeast and Midwest benefit. Under the A2 (more extreme) scenario, households in 25 of 26 cities suffer an average welfare loss equal to 5 percent of income. |
| Keywords: | climate amenities, discrete choice models, migration, welfare impacts of temperature changes |
| JEL: | Q5 Q51 |
| Date: | 2013–01–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-13-01&r=mig |
| By: | Cui, Yuling (Macquarie University, Sydney); Nahm, Daehoon (Macquarie University, Sydney); Tani, Massimiliano (Macquarie University, Sydney) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the returns to education of rural-urban migrants during the period of transition of China's economy between 1995 and 2008. Using data from CHIP and RUMiC, we find that rural migrants' earning differentials with urban residents are substantial and mainly depend on the type of occupation, industry, and employers' ownership, rather than the level of education completed. Returns to formal schooling for migrants remained stable at approximately 3% and 5% throughout the period, and differences across quantiles are generally statistically insignificant. Increasing gaps in the return to schooling by gender have instead emerged. These results raise questions about the incentives to invest in human capital for rural migrants and for the governments funding education in emigration regions. |
| Keywords: | returns to education, rural migrants, quantile regression, ownership enterprises, China, returns to schooling |
| JEL: | C31 J24 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7349&r=mig |