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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Mbaye, Linguère Mously (IZA) |
| Abstract: | Fatalities from illegal immigration from Africa is an important issue, representing a major challenge for both major migrant sending and receiving countries. Nonetheless, almost nothing is known about how the illegal migration intentions of potential migrants are formed. This paper aims to explain the factors behind the formation of these intentions to migrate illegally by using an original survey among urban Senegalese individuals. Remarkably, the results show that potential illegal migrants are willing to accept a substantial risk of death (25% at the median). Furthermore, the paper also finds that the price of illegal migration, migrant networks and high expectations play important roles in the decision to illegally migrate. Moreover, I find that, contrary to conventional thinking, stricter immigration policies deter potential legal migrants more than potential illegal migrants. |
| Keywords: | illegal migration, intentions, Senegal |
| JEL: | F22 O15 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7728&r=mig |
| By: | Bossler, Mario (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "I study the recruiting behaviour of German establishments with regard to the use of foreign labour markets. Applying instrumental variable strategies, I find foreign affinity and labour market scarcity to stimulate the use of foreign markets. Regional labour market scarcity is particularly relevant to small firms, and the effect of foreign affinity is largely driven by the share of foreigners in leading positions in large establishments. The results indicate that shortages are functional and foster the use of foreign labour markets, but the large effect of foreign affinity also reveals that the potential of immigrant workers is used selectively." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| JEL: | F22 J23 J61 M51 |
| Date: | 2013–11–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201319&r=mig |
| By: | Van Bouwel, Linda; Veugelers, Reinhilde |
| Abstract: | Using survey data on European-born and European-educated researchers who are internationally mobile after their PhD within Europe or to the United States, we find positive reported effects from international mobility on a range of facets, including scientific productivity, research environment and career development. Researchers mobile to the United States consistently report stronger positive effects than their peers who are mobile within the EU. This apparent ‘U.S. premium’, however, is almost entirely due to selection. |
| Keywords: | international mobility; research productivity; career development; EU-US; |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:leuven:urn:hdl:123456789/418318&r=mig |
| By: | Kalfa, Eleni (University of Kent); Piracha, Matloob (University of Kent) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses immigrants' education-occupation mismatch as well as its impact on their wages in Spain. Using cross-sectional data from the National Immigrant Survey of Spain 2007, we estimate a probit model taking into account the possible problem of selection bias. We show that the incidence of immigrants' education-occupation mismatch in the Spanish labour market can largely be explained by the incidence of education-occupation mismatch in the last job held in the home country. The probability of having been over-educated at home shows to have a higher effect on the probability of being over-educated in the first job upon arrival where work experience gained in the home country shows to be highly valued by Spanish employers. In addition, our results show that those who were over-educated in their first job after arrival are more likely to continue in being overeducated in their current/last job in Spain. Furthermore, we analyse the performance of immigrants in Spain by estimating the wage penalty of over-education. Using log wage equation as well as predicted and counterfactual values distinguishing between immigrants being in the correctly matched occupation and those who are over-educated, we show that over-educated immigrants earn significantly lower wage compared to their correctly-matched counterparts, while over-educated immigrants' would have earned an even larger amount if the same individuals were employed in a correctly matched job instead. Significant differences are also apparent when restricting the models to the level of education. |
| Keywords: | sample selection, education-occupation mismatch, immigration |
| JEL: | C34 J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7721&r=mig |
| By: | Sari Pekkala Kerr (Wellesley College); William R. Kerr (Harvard Business School, Entrepreneurial Management Unit); William F. Lincoln (John Hopkins University) |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of skilled immigrants on the employment structures of U.S. firms using matched employer-employee data. Unlike most previous work, we use the firm as the lens of analysis to account for a greater level of heterogeneity and the fact that many skilled immigrant admissions are driven by firms themselves (e.g., the H-1B visa). OLS and IV specifications find rising overall employment of skilled workers with increased skilled immigrant employment by firm. Employment expansion is greater for younger natives than their older counterparts, and departure rates for older workers appear higher for those in STEM occupations compared to younger worker. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Employment, Firms, Age, Scientists, Engineers, Inventors, H-1B. |
| JEL: | F15 F22 J44 J61 O31 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:14-040&r=mig |
| By: | Emanuele Forlani (Department of Economics and Management, University of Pavia); Elisabetta Lodigiani (Department of Economics, University of Venice Ca' Foscari); Concetta Mendolicchio (Institute for Employment Research, IAB) |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the literature on the impact of immigrants on native female labour supply. By segmenting the market by educational levels, we are able to investigate which native-born women are more affected by an increase of low-skilled immigrants working in the household service sector. We present a model of individual choice with home production and, using an harmonized dataset (CNEF), we test its main predictions. Our sample includes countries implementing different family policies. Our results suggest that the share of immigrants working in services in a given local labour market is positively associated with the probability of native-born women to increase their labour supply at the intensive margin (number of hours worked per week), if skilled, and at the extensive margin (participation decision), if unskilled. Moreover, they show that these effects are larger in countries with less family-supportive policies. |
| Keywords: | Female labour participation, international migration, family policy |
| JEL: | J22 J61 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pav:demwpp:demwp0058&r=mig |
| By: | D. ISEBAERT |
| Abstract: | Housing tenure is a key determinant of geographical mobility. We estimate several probit models to explain the probability that households move, using Belgian longitudinal PSBH and EU-SILC datasets which together cover the period 1994-2009. We confirm the general conclusion in previous literature, that homeowners are, ceteris paribus, less mobile than tenants. Within the first category, having a mortgage further hampers mobility. Earlier results for Belgium did not find a significant difference between outright owners and mortgagees. Furthermore, we make progress on the existing literature by paying particular attention to (and dealing with) methodological issues such as unobserved heterogeneity and state dependence. However, we also obtain some indications that the strict exogeneity assumption may be violated, implying that we cannot exclude the possibility of some bias in our estimated coefficients. |
| Keywords: | Housing tenure, geographical mobility, Belgian households, panel data |
| JEL: | R21 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:13/855&r=mig |
| By: | Karlygash Kuralbayeva |
| Abstract: | I build an equilibrium search and matching model of an economy with an informal sector and rural-urban migration to analyze the effects of budget-neutral green tax policy (raising pollution taxes, while cutting payroll taxes) on the labor market. The key results of the paper suggest that when general public spending varies endogenously in response to tax reform and higher energy taxes can reduce the income from self-employed work in the informal sector, green tax policy can produce a triple dividend: a cleaner environment, lower unemployment rate and higher after-tax income of the private sector. This is due to the ability of the government, by employing public spending as an additional policy instrument, to reduce the overall tax burden when an increase in energy tax rates does not exceed some threshold level. Thus governments should employ several instruments if they are concerned with labor market implications of green tax policies. |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lsg:lsgwps:wp139&r=mig |
| By: | Ohinata, Asako (University of Leicester); van Ours, Jan C. (Tilburg University) |
| Abstract: | We analyze how the share of immigrant children in the classroom affects the educational attainment of native Dutch children in terms of their language and math performance at the end of primary school. Our paper studies the spill-over effects at different parts of the test score distribution of native Dutch students using a quantile regression approach. We find no evidence of negative spillover effects of the classroom presence of immigrant children at the median of the test score distribution. In addition, there is no indication that these spill-over effects are present at other parts of the distribution. |
| Keywords: | immigrant children, peer effects, educational attainment |
| JEL: | I21 J15 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7720&r=mig |
| By: | Angelucci, Manuela (University of Michigan) |
| Abstract: | Using data collected for the evaluation of the rural component of Oportunidades, Mexico's flagship anti-poverty program, I show that poor households' entitlement to an exogenous, temporary but guaranteed income stream increases US migration even if this income is mainly consumed and that some households likely use the entitlement to this income stream as collateral to finance the migration. The individuals who start migrating because of this income shock belong to households with no counterfactual US migrants, come from the middle of the local predicted wage distribution, and worsen migrant skills. These results suggest that financial constraints to international migration are binding for poor Mexicans, some of whom would like to migrate but cannot afford to. If generalizable, they indicate that, as growth and anti-poverty and micro-finance programs relax financial constraints for the poor, Mexican migration to the US will increase and higher levels of border enforcement will likely be needed. |
| Keywords: | migration, financial constraints, Mexico |
| JEL: | J61 O12 O15 F22 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7726&r=mig |
| By: | Dimant, Eugen; Krieger, Tim; Redlin, Margarete |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of migration on destination-country corruption levels. Capitalizing on a comprehensive dataset consisting of annual immigration stocks of OECD countries from 207 countries of origin for the period 1984 - 2008, we explore different channels through which corruption might migrate. Independent of the econometric methodology applied, we consistently find that while general migration has an insignificant effect on the destination country's corruption level, immigration from corruption-ridden origin countries boosts corruption in the destination country. Our findings provide a more profound understanding of the economic implications associated with migration flows. -- |
| Keywords: | corruption,migration,impact of migration |
| JEL: | D73 F22 O15 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wgspdp:201303&r=mig |
| By: | Démurger, Sylvie (CNRS, GATE); Xu, Hui (Beijing Normal University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how left-behind children influence return migration in China. We first present a simple illustrative model based on Dustmann (2003) that incorporates economic and non-economic motives for migration duration (or intentions to return), among which are parents' concerns about the well-being of their left-behind children. We then propose two complementary empirical tests based on data we collected from rural households in Wuwei county (Anhui province) in fall 2008. We first use a discrete-time proportional hazard model to estimate the determinants of migration duration for both on-going migrants with an incomplete length of duration and return migrants with a complete length of duration. Second, we apply a binary Probit model to study the return intentions of on-going migrants. Both models yield consistent results regarding the role of left-behind children as a significant motive for return. First, left-behind children are found to draw their parents back to the village, the effect being stronger for pre-school children. Second, sons are found to play a more important role than daughters in reducing migration duration. |
| Keywords: | left-behind children, migration duration, return migration, discrete-time duration analysis, China |
| JEL: | J61 J13 C41 C25 O53 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7727&r=mig |
| By: | Schokkaert, Jeroen |
| Keywords: | Economics; Sports; |
| Date: | 2013–10–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:leuven:urn:hdl:123456789/414623&r=mig |
| By: | Ariu, Andrea; Squicciarini, Mara |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:leuven:urn:hdl:123456789/404683&r=mig |
| By: | Abbott, Michael G.; Beach, Charles M. |
| Abstract: | This Study examines the earnings mobility of Canadian immigrants using the large IMDB microdata file. We examine earnings transition matrices of immigrants over ten years after landing in Canada for three landing cohorts – 1982, 1988, and 1994. Immigrants also arrive under four separate admission classes: independent economic, other economic, family class, and refugees. The study reports five major empirical findings. First, overall earnings mobility was slightly greater for male immigrant earners than for male workers as a whole in the Canadian labour market, but was considerably greater for female immigrant earners than for all female earners in Canada. But both male and female immigrants over their first decade in Canada were much more likely to experience downward earnings mobility than were all earners of the same gender in Canada. Second, across the four immigrant admission classes, independent economic immigrants have markedly the highest average probability of moving up and the lowest probability of moving down the earnings distribution. Third, overall earnings mobility is slightly higher for female than male immigrants – opposite to the situation for workers as whole in Canada. Fourth, the degree of immigrant earnings mobility declines over immigrants’ first ten post-landing years in Canada as they integrate into the Canadian labour market. Fifth, overall earnings mobility across landing cohorts has shown only minor changes between the 1982 and 1994 cohorts, where the average probability of moving up has significantly increased and the average probability of moving down has significantly decreased. The early 1990s economic recession is seen to have had substantial negative or dampening effects on immigrant earnings mobility for the 1988 landing cohort. |
| Keywords: | Immigrant earnings, transition matrices, Canadian immigrants |
| JEL: | J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2013–10–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2013-47&r=mig |
| By: | McDonald, James Ted; Worswick, Christopher |
| Abstract: | The incomes, hours of work and co-residency behavior of older immigrants in Canada are analyzed using data from the confidential master files of the Canadian Census for the years 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006. Older immigrants in Canada have lower incomes than the Canadian-born of the same age range and this difference is concentrated in the immigrants who arrived older than age 50. However, there is also evidence that the effects of the lower incomes on the welfare of these immigrants are mitigated to a certain extent through co-residency, presumably with their younger relatives already resident in Canada. Immigrants reside with, on average, more family members than do the Canadian born. A clear pattern is present of immigrant groups with relatively low average incomes being the ones living in larger economic families. Immigrants who arrive at younger ages (25-49) are more likely to be employed and if they are employed, they tend to work longer hours than their Canadian born counterparts. For immigrants who arrived after age 50, their employment decisions do not differ greatly from their Canadian born counterparts; however, if they work, their hours of work tend to be higher. Immigrants have relatively less income from private pensions compared with the Canadian born. Immigrants from non-traditional source countries have low levels of CPP/QPP income relative to immigrants from traditional source countries or the Canadian born. In terms of OAS/GIS income, immigrant men who arrived at age 60 or older have in the order of 50% lower incidence of receiving pension income than do immigrants who arrived at younger ages. In contrast, for immigrant men who arrived age 25-49, we do not see large differences in their incidence or level of income received from OAS/GIS relative to otherwise similar Canadian born men. |
| Keywords: | Retirement, pensions, income, immigrant, labour supply, housing, gender |
| JEL: | D31 H24 J14 J48 |
| Date: | 2013–04–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2013-23&r=mig |
| By: | William R. Kerr (Harvard Business School, Entrepreneurial Management Unit) |
| Abstract: | This study tests the importance of Ricardian technology differences for international trade. The empirical analysis has three comparative advantages: including emerging and advanced economies, isolating panel variation regarding the link between productivity and exports, and exploiting heterogeneous technology diffusion from immigrant communities in the United States for identification. The latter instruments are developed by combining panel variation on the development of new technologies across U.S. cities with historical settlement patterns for migrants from countries. The instrumented elasticity of export growth on the intensive margin with respect to the exporter's productivity growth is between 1.6 and 2.4 depending upon weighting. |
| Keywords: | Trade; Exports; Comparative Advantage; Technological Transfer; Patents; Innovation; Research and Development; Immigration; Networks; |
| JEL: | F11 F14 F15 F22 J44 J61 L14 O31 O33 O57 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:14-039&r=mig |
| By: | Biavaschi, Costanza (IZA); Giulietti, Corrado (IZA); Siddique, Zahra (University of Reading) |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of the Americanization of names on the labor market outcomes of migrants. We construct a novel longitudinal data set of naturalization records in which we track a complete sample of migrants who naturalize by 1930. We find that migrants who Americanized their names experienced larger occupational upgrading. Some, such as those who changed to very popular American names like John or William, obtained gains in occupation-based earnings of at least 14%. We show that these estimates are causal effects by using an index of linguistic complexity based on Scrabble points as an instrumental variable that predicts name Americanization. We conclude that the tradeoff between individual identity and labor market success was present since the early making of modern America. |
| Keywords: | Americanization, names, assimilation, migration |
| JEL: | J61 J62 Z1 N32 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7725&r=mig |