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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Lu, Yi; Xie, Huihua; Xu, Lixin Colin |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a unique natural experiment in Chinese villages to investigate whether access to telecommunications-- in particular, landline phones -- increases the likelihood of outmigration. By using regional and time variations in the installation of landline phones, the difference-in-differences estimation shows that access to landline phones increases the ratio of out-migrant workers by 2 percentage points, or about 50 percent of the sample mean in China. The results remain robust to a battery of validity checks. Furthermore, landline phones affect outmigration through two channels: information access to job opportunities and timely contact with left-behind family members. The findings underscore the positive migration externality of expanding telecommunications access in rural areas, especially in places where migration potential is large. |
| Keywords: | E-Business,Population Policies,Access to Finance,ICT Policy and Strategies,Anthropology |
| Date: | 2013–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6644&r=mig |
| By: | Neil Lee |
| Abstract: | Growing cultural diversity is seen as important for innovation. Research has focused on two potential mechanisms: a firm effect, with diversity at the firm level improving knowledge sourcing or ideas generation, and a city effect, where diverse cities helping firms innovate. This paper uses a dataset of over 2,000 UK SMEs to test between these two. Controlling for firm characteristics, city characteristics and firm and city diversity, there is strong evidence for the firm effect. Firms with a greater share of migrant owners or partners are more likely to introduce new products and processes. This effect has diminishing returns, suggesting that it is a 'diversity' effect rather than simply the benefits of migrant run firms. However, there is no relationship between the share of foreign workers in a local labour market and firm level innovation, nor do migrant-run firms in diverse cities appear particularly innovative. But urban context does matter and firms in London with more migrant owners and partners are more innovative than others. |
| Keywords: | Cultural diversity, innovation, cities, SMEs, migration |
| JEL: | J61 L21 M13 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:sercdp:0144&r=mig |
| By: | Mitrut, Andreea (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Wolff, Francois-Charles (LEMNA, Université de Nantes, France) |
| Abstract: | Using a unique data set on immigrants living in France in 2003, we investigate whether Muslims invest differently in their children’s education compared to non-Muslims. In particular, we want to assess whether educational inequalities between the children of Muslim and non-Muslim immigrants stem from differences between or within families. After controlling for a broad set of individual and household characteristics, we find no difference in education between children of different religions. However, we do find more within-family inequality in children’s educational achievements among Muslims relative to non-Muslims. The within-family variance is 15% higher among Muslims relative to Catholics and 45% higher relative to immigrants with other religion, but the intra-family inequality remains difficult to explain. Overall, our results suggest that Muslim parents tend to redistribute their resources more unequally among their children. |
| Keywords: | immigrants; religion; education; intra-household inequality; France |
| JEL: | D13 J15 Z12 |
| Date: | 2013–10–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0575&r=mig |
| By: | Gassmann, Franziska (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG); Siegel, Melissa (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG); Vanore, Michaella (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG); Waidler, Jennifer (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically evaluates the well-being of children "left behind" by migrant household members in Moldova. Using data derived from a nationally-representative, large-scale household survey conducted between September 2011 and February 2012 among 3,255 households (1,801 of which contained children aged 0-17) across Moldova, different dimensions of child well-being are empirically evaluated. Well-being of children in Moldova is divided into eight different dimensions, each of which is comprised of several indicators. Each indicator is examined individually and then aggregated into an index. Well-being outcomes are then compared by age group, primary caregiver, migration status of the household (current migrant, return migrant, or no migration experience), and by who has migrated within the household. It was found that migration in and of itself is not associated with negative outcomes on children's well-being in any of the dimensions analysed, nor does it matter who in the household has migrated. Children living in return migrant households, however, attain higher rates of well-being in specific dimensions like emotional health and material well-being. The age of the child and the material living standards experienced by the household are much stronger predictors of well-being than household migration status in a number of different dimensions. The results suggest that migration does not play a significant role in shaping child well-being outcomes, contrary to the scenarios described in much past research. This paper is the first (to the authors' knowledge) to link migration and multidimensional child poverty. |
| Keywords: | Moldova, migration, poverty, child poverty, multi-dimensional poverty |
| JEL: | I32 F22 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2013043&r=mig |
| By: | Aliu, Armando |
| Abstract: | The Western Balkans integration within the EU has started a legal process which is the rejection of former communist legal/political approaches and the transformation of former communist institutions. Indeed, the EU agenda has brought vertical/horizontal integration and Europeanization of national institutions (i.e. shifting power to the EU institutions and international authorities). At this point, it is very crucial to emphasize the fact that the Western Balkans as a whole region has currently an image that includes characteristics of both the Soviet socialism and the European democracy. The EU foreign policies and enlargement strategy for Western Balkans have significant effects on four core factors (i.e. Schengen visa regulations, remittances, asylum and migration as an aggregate process). The convergence/divergence of EU member states’ priorities for migration policies regulate and even shape directly the migration dynamics in migrant sender countries. From this standpoint, the research explores how main migration factors are influenced by political and judicial factors such as; rule of law and democracy score, the economic liberation score, political and human rights, civil society score and citizenship rights in Western Balkan countries. The proposal of interhybridity explores how the hybridization of state and non-state actors within home and host countries can solve labor migration-related problems. The economical and sociopolitical labor-migration model of Basu (2009) is overlapping with the multidimensional empirical framework of interhybridity. Indisputably, hybrid model (i.e. collaboration state and non-state actors) has a catalyst role in terms of balancing social problems and civil society needs. Paradigmatically, it is better to perceive the hybrid model as a combination of communicative and strategic action that means the reciprocal recognition within the model is precondition for significant functionality. This will shape social and industrial relations with moral meanings of communication. -- |
| Keywords: | Interhybridity,Migration,Politics,Western Balkans |
| JEL: | F22 A1 P4 P48 C1 F5 P3 J6 J61 C8 J5 J53 |
| Date: | 2013–01–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:83785&r=mig |
| By: | Rajashri Chakrabarti; Joydeep Roy |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we investigate the role of college selectivity in mobility decisions (both in-state and out-of-state) of freshmen students following Georgia’s HOPE scholarship program. How did HOPE affect the selectivity of colleges attended by Georgia’s freshmen students? Did it induce Georgia’s freshmen students who would have otherwise attended more selective out-of-state colleges to instead attend less selective in-state ones? Or was there movement to more selective ones, both in-state and out-of-state? Using student residency and enrollment data from IPEDS and selectivity data from Barron’s and Peterson’s, we find that in the aftermath of HOPE, Georgia freshmen attended relatively more selective colleges overall. Disaggregating further, we find that Georgia freshmen attending in-state colleges attended more selective ones. Georgia freshmen attending out-of-state colleges were also more likely to attend more selective colleges, most likely due to an increase in the reservation price to go to out-of-state colleges following HOPE. Our results are robust to a variety of sensitivity checks and have important policy implications. In particular, Peltzman had observed in his classic 1973 paper that in-kind subsidies can induce individuals to invest in less quality-adjusted human capital than they might otherwise. The fact that Georgia freshmen attended relatively more selective colleges in the post-HOPE period allays, to some extent, the concern that state merit aid programs can adversely affect long-term outcomes and human capital formation. |
| Keywords: | Universities and colleges ; Subsidies ; Education - Economic aspects ; Human capital |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednsr:641&r=mig |
| By: | Teemu Lyytikäinen; Hilber; A. L. Christian |
| Abstract: | We estimate the effect of the UK Stamp Duty Land Tax on household mobility using micro data. Exploiting a discontinuity in the tax schedule as a quasiexperimental setting, we isolate the impact of the stamp duty from other determinants of mobility. We compare homeowners with self-assessed house values on either sides of a cut-off value where the tax rate increases from 1 to 3 percent and find that a higher stamp duty strongly negatively affects their propensity to move. The 2 percentage-point increase in the stamp duty reduces the annual rate of mobility by between 2 and 3 percentage-points or about 30 percent. This adverse effect is confined to short-distance and non-job related moves, suggesting a distortion in the housing rather than the labour market. As a cross-validation check, we also analyse the distribution of actual transaction prices and find that the tax rate increase reduces the volume of sales by roughly 30 percent. |
| Keywords: | Stamp duty, housing transfer taxes, transaction costs, homeownership, household mobility |
| JEL: | R31 R21 J61 H27 H21 R38 D23 |
| Date: | 2013–08–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fer:wpaper:47&r=mig |
| By: | Walmsley, Terrie; Aguiar, Angel; Ahmed, S. Amer |
| Abstract: | East and Southeast Asia face major demographic changes over the next few decades as many countries'labor forces will start to decline, while others will experience higher labor force growth as populations and participation rates increase. A well-managed labor migration strategy presents itself as a mechanism for ameliorating the impending labor shortages in some East-Asia Pacific countries, while providing an opportunity for other countries with excess labor to provide migrant workers that will contribute to the development of the home country through greater remittance flows. Although migration would be unable to offset the economic impacts of the declining labor forces in the countries with shrinking populations, a more flexible migration policy, allowing migrants to respond to the major demographic changes occurring in Asia over the next 50 years, would be beneficial to most economies in the region in terms of real incomes and real gross domestic product over the 2007-2050 period. Such a policy could deeply affect the net migration position of a country. Countries that were net recipients under current migration policies might become net senders under the more liberal policy regime. |
| Keywords: | Population Policies,Labor Markets,Banks&Banking Reform,Labor Policies,Economic Growth |
| Date: | 2013–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6643&r=mig |
| By: | Elsayed A.E.A.; Grip A. de (GSBE) |
| Abstract: | We study the effect that a series of fundamentalist-Islamic terrorist attacks in Europe had on the attitudes of Muslim immigrants in the Netherlands towards integration. Shortly after the attacks, Muslim immigrants perceived integration, as measured by various indicators, decreased significantly relative to that of non-Muslims immigrants whereas there is no evidence for the existence of a negative trend in the integration of Muslims prior to the terrorist attacks. We further show that terrorism has a particularly negative impact on the integration of the highly educated, employed, and less religious Muslims those who arguably have a strong potential for integration. |
| Keywords: | International Migration; Economics of Minorities, Races, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Social and Economic Stratification; |
| JEL: | F22 J15 Z13 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:umagsb:2013043&r=mig |
| By: | Paolo Sgrignoli (IMT Lucca Institute for Advanced Studies); Rodolfo Metulini (IMT Lucca Institute for Advanced Studies); Stefano Schiavo (Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento); Massimo Riccaboni (IMT Lucca Institute for Advanced Studies) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we develop a methodology to analyze and compare multiple global networks. We focus our analysis on the relation between human migration and trade. First, we identify the subset of products for which the presence of a community of migrants significantly increases trade intensity. To assure comparability across networks, we apply a hypergeometric filter to identify links for which migration and trade intensity are both significantly higher than expected. Next we develop an econometric methodology, inspired by spatial econometrics, to measure the effect of migration on international trade while controlling for network interdependencies. Overall, we find that migration significantly boosts trade across sectors and we are able to identify product categories for which this effect is particularly strong. |
| Keywords: | Trade, Migration, networks, gravity model, spatial econometric |
| JEL: | F10 F22 C1 D85 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ial:wpaper:6/2013&r=mig |
| By: | Andri Chassamboulli (University of Cyprus); Theodore Palivos (Athens University of Economics and Business) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the impact of the immigration influx that took place during the years 2000-2007 in Greece on labor market outcomes. We employ a search and matching framework that allows for skill heterogeneity and differential unemployment income (search cost) between immigrants and natives. Within such a framework, we .find that skilled native workers, who complement immigrants in production, gain in terms of both wages and employment. The effects on unskilled native workers, who compete with immigrants, on the other hand, are ambiguous and depend first on the presence of a statutory minimum wage and second on the way that this minimum wage is determined. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; Search and Matching; Unemployment; Skill-heterogeneity;Minimum Wage; Greek Economy. |
| JEL: | F22 J61 J64 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bog:wpaper:160&r=mig |
| By: | Voorend, K. |
| Abstract: | When the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS), the flagship institution of Costa Rica’s ‘exceptional’ -solidary and universal- social policy regime, entered in financial crisis in 2011, the already difficult social integration of Nicaraguan immigrants in Costa Rica became even more critical. Faced with a general deterioration of social services, a perception that immigrants are threatening the availability of jobs and social services for the national population, and voices that advocate the creation of limits to social rights and access to social benefits, this essay analyzes the political reaction of the State, specifically whether it chooses to limit immigrants’ access to healthcare. In a discussion on state sovereignty, universalism and social rights, this article argues that immigration control responsibilities are transferred to social policy institutions, “shifting in†migration control and that the principle of universalism of Costa Rica’s social policy regime does not necessarily apply to parts of the immigrant population, both irregular and regular. |
| Keywords: | social policy;migration;citizenship;migration control;universalismo |
| Date: | 2013–09–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:euriss:564&r=mig |
| By: | Bouoiyour, Jamal |
| Abstract: | Remittances are an important source of external financing for a country like Morocco. We show in this paper the properties of these financial flows. Indeed, we show that remittances are more stable than foreign direct investment. They are pro-cyclical in some periods and countercyclical in others. We show also that they reduce the gender inequalities in education. They do not cause Dutch disease and promote financial development. While Moroccan officials in charge of migration issues have managed to maintain an uninterrupted flow of transfers for decades, but the question of the assignment is acute. The multiplication of actors in charge of migration issues is a key obstacle to the effectiveness of these transfers. An aggiornamento of governance of migration issues in Morocco seems more than necessary. |
| Keywords: | Remittances, Human Capital, Gender Parity Index, Business Cycles, ARCH Model, Financial Development, Dutch disease, Governance. |
| JEL: | F22 F24 |
| Date: | 2013–10–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:50537&r=mig |