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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Bohn, Sarah (Public Policy Institute of California); Pugatch, Todd (Oregon State University) |
| Abstract: | We provide the first evidence on the causal effect of border enforcement on the full spatial distribution of Mexican immigrants to the United States. We address the endogeneity of border enforcement with an instrumental variables strategy based on administrative delays in budgetary allocations for border security. We find that 1,000 additional border patrol officers assigned to prevent unauthorized migrants from entering a state decreases that state's share of Mexican immigrants by 21.9%. Our estimates imply that border enforcement alone accounted for declines in the share of Mexican immigrants locating in California and Texas of 11 and 6 percentage points, respectively, over the period 1994-2011, with all other states experiencing gains or no change. |
| Keywords: | unauthorized immigration, border enforcement, Mexico, residential location choice |
| JEL: | J15 J61 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7842&r=mig |
| By: | Miranda, Alfonso (CIDE, Mexico City); Zhu, Yu (University of Kent) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the extent to which deficiency at English as measured by English as Additional Language (EAL), contribute to the immigrant-native wage gap for female employees in the UK, controlling for covariates. To deal with the endogeneity of EAL and a substantial problem of self-selection into employment we suggest a 3-step estimator (TSE). The properties of this estimator are investigated in a Monte Carlo simulation study and we show evidence that TSE delivers a consistent and asymptotically normal estimator. We find a large and statistically significant causal effect of EAL on the immigrant-native wage gap for women. |
| Keywords: | English as Additional Language (EAL), immigrant-native wage gap, endogenous treatment, sample selection |
| JEL: | J15 J31 J61 C21 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7841&r=mig |
| By: | Bauernschuster, Stefan; Falck, Oliver; Heblich, Stephan; Suedekum, Jens |
| Abstract: | Why are better educated and more risk-friendly persons more mobile across regions? To answer this question, we use micro data on internal migrants from the German Socio- Economic Panel (SOEP) 2000 - 2006 and merge this information with a unique proxy for region-pair-specific cultural distances across German regions constructed from historical local dialect patterns. Our findings indicate that risk-loving and skilled people are more mobile over longer distances because they are more willing to cross cultural boundaries and move to regions that are culturally different from their homes. Other types of distance-related migration costs cannot explain the lower distance sensitivity of educated and risk-loving individuals. -- |
| Keywords: | Migration,Culture,Distance,Human Capital,Risk Attitudes |
| JEL: | J61 R23 D81 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:123&r=mig |
| By: | Qing Li (McMaster University); Arthur Sweetman (McMaster University) |
| Abstract: | International test scores are used to proxy the quality of source country educational outcomes and explain differences in the rate of return to schooling among immigrants in Canada. The average quality of educational outcomes in an immigrant’s source country and the rate of return to schooling in the host country labour market are found to have a strong and positive association. However, in contrast to those who completed their education pre-immigration, immigrants who arrived at a young age are not influenced by this educational quality measure. Also, the results are not much affected when the source country’s GDP per capita and other nation-level characteristics are used as control variables. Together, these observations reinforce the argument that the quality of educational outcomes has explanatory power for labour market outcomes. The effects are strongest for males and for females without children. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Quality of Education, Earnings |
| JEL: | I21 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1332&r=mig |
| By: | Batista, Catia (Universidade Nova de Lisboa); Narciso, Gaia (Trinity College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | Do information flows matter for remittance behavior? We design and implement a randomized control trial to quantitatively assess the role of communication between migrants and their contacts abroad on the extent and value of remittance flows. In the experiment, a random sample of 1,500 migrants residing in Ireland was offered the possibility of contacting their networks outside the host country for free over a varying number of months. We find a sizable, positive impact of our intervention on the value of migrant remittances sent. Our results exclude that the remittance effect we identify is a simple substitution effect. Instead, our analysis points to this effect being a likely result of improved information via factors such as better migrant control over remittance use, enhanced trust in remittance channels due to experience sharing, or increased remittance recipients' social pressure on migrants. |
| Keywords: | information flows, international migration, migrant networks, remittances, randomized control trial |
| JEL: | F22 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7839&r=mig |
| By: | Battiston, Diego |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of immigration on the wages of Argentinean native workers over the period 1993-2012. I use a novel micro-dataset which combines household surveys from Argentina and six other Latin American countries. Immigration from these six countries accounts for 95% of the total immigration from Latin American countries. The empirical strategy identifies the effects of the labour supply variation using the “national approach” from Borjas (2003) and a reduced form equation obtained within a CES framework. In order to account for demand/pull shocks, I propose a set of instruments based on labour market conditions in immigrants’ home countries. An alternative specification also explores the hypothesis of heterogeneous impact by country of origin. Overall, findings show a significant negative impact of immigration on wages. IV estimates suggest that OLS results are a lower bound for the (partial) causal effect. Thus, if confounding demand factors exist, they bias the results toward zero. |
| Keywords: | immigration; wages; Argentina; labour market; cross-border migration; |
| JEL: | J0 J20 J31 J61 O54 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:52424&r=mig |
| By: | Slobodan Djajić, Alice Mesnard (IHEID, The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva) |
| Abstract: | Guest-worker programs have been providing rapidly growing economies with millions of temporary foreign workers over the last couple of decades. With the duration of stay strictly limited by program rules in most of the host countries and wages paid to guest workers often set at sub-market levels, many of the migrants choose to overstay and seek employment in the underground economy. This paper develops a general-equilibrium model that relates the flow of guest workers transiting to the underground economy to the rules of the program, enforcement measures of the host country and market conditions facing migrants at home and abroad. |
| Keywords: | Temporary migration, undocumented workers, underground economy |
| JEL: | F22 |
| Date: | 2013–12–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gii:giihei:heidwp15-2013&r=mig |
| By: | David K. Baugh; Shinu Verghese |
| Keywords: | MAX, Medicaid, Eligibility, Enrollment, Migration, Moving |
| JEL: | I |
| Date: | 2013–12–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:7990&r=mig |
| By: | Farré, Lídia (IAE Barcelona (CSIC)) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new empirical evidence on the contribution of selective migration to the health advantage of immigrants upon arrival to the new destination (i.e. the Healthy Immigrant Effect). It analyses a very interesting episode in international migration, namely the exodus of Ecuadorians in the aftermath of the economic collapse in the late 1990s. Between 1999 and 2005, more than 600,000 Ecuadorians left the country and most of them headed towards Spain. Using administrative data from the Vital Statistics, it compares the health distribution (in terms of birth outcomes) of immigrant children born in Spain to that of non-immigrants in Ecuador and immigrants from other nationalities, and not only to that of natives at destination. These comparisons suggest that positive selection is partly responsible for the health advantage of recent immigrants. |
| Keywords: | immigration, selection, health, birth outcomes |
| JEL: | J61 I14 C14 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7840&r=mig |
| By: | Hercog, Metka (UNU-MERIT / MGSoG); Van de Laar, Mindel (UNU-MERIT / MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how national migration policies and country-specific factors in receiving countries attend to a potential highly-skilled migrant when one is deciding among several possible locations. While continental European countries recognize the need to attract migrants as a key component of their economic strategies, it remained unclear to what extent the more open immigration policies led to actually increase the attractiveness of European countries to perform better at the global competition for the highly-skilled. The survey among prospective migrants in India shows that while European countries appear to be relatively attractive for study purposes, they are not perceived equally attractive as a place for a long-term stay. To overcome the risks and pick Europe as a destination, more resources and skills are necessary than for traditional immigration countries; be it in terms of existing networks abroad, higher educational level or better language skills. With less long-term migration initiatives to Europe, immigration policies and destination country-specific factors, chances to obtain citizenship and amenities of local environment become less relevant. European governments place considerable effort on integration of student migration as a part of a wider immigration strategy. This strategy is likely to prove ineffective if "probationary migrants" clearly do not see European countries as prospective work destination for the period after their graduation. |
| Keywords: | location choices, pull factors, higher education, student migration, migration policy, India |
| JEL: | F22 J61 I23 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–12–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013066&r=mig |
| By: | Fausto Galli (Università di Salerno); Giuseppe Russo (Università di Salerno and CSEF) |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of restrictions to immigration on the cultural assimilation of the second generation. Our theoretical model shows that restrictive policies incentivize to permanent immigration individuals with a stronger taste for their original culture. Permanent immigration implies reproduction in the destination country and transmission of cultural traits to the second generation, which will therefore experience a more difficult assimilation. We test this prediction by using the 1973 immigration ban in Germany (Anwerbestopp) as a quasi-experiment, since it only concerned immigrants from countries outside the European Economic Community. Thus, our treatment group is given by the second generation of non-EEC immigrants. Our estimates show that the Anwerbestopp has reduced the cultural assimilation of this generation. This result is robust to several checks, including a triple differences analysis. We conclude that restrictive immigration policies may have unwanted consequences on the process of cultural assimilation. |
| Keywords: | return migration, cultural transmission, difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | D91 F22 J15 Z13 |
| Date: | 2013–12–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:349&r=mig |
| By: | Andrew Geddes |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the role played by the production and use of knowledge about international migration - or to be more specific the incompleteness of such knowledge -in driving new forms of EU migration governance. The focus is on the transformation of modes of governance linked to the roles played by instrumental, social and communicative logics of institutional action. The paper shows that, while the key referent for migration governance in Europe remains the state and associated state-centered logics of control, it is now evident that both the understanding of the issues and the pursuit of policy objectives are clearly shaped by the EU. A key reason for this is the role played by uncertainty related not only to the causes and effects of international migration, but also about the actual numbers of international migrants living both regularly and irregularly in EU member states. In contrast to existing approaches that see uncertainty and incomplete knowledge as causes of policy failure, this paper sees uncertainty and incomplete knowledge as creating social and political opportunities for EU action linked to the quest for more and 'better' knowledge with resultant conceptual and practical space for 'transgovernmental' relations among government units working across borders. |
| Keywords: | immigration policy; governance |
| Date: | 2013–11–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erp:kfgxxx:p0056&r=mig |
| By: | Gabriel Romero (Departamento de Economía); Iñigo Iturbe-Ormaetxe Kortajarene (Universidad de Alicante) |
| Abstract: | We present a model in which individuals choose both the level of provision of a public good and the quota of low-skilled immigrants that are allowed into the country. Individuals can supplement the public good in the private market. Immigrants affect natives through three channels: (i) the labor market; (ii) tax collection; (iii) the quality of the public good. We find that the higher the political weight of the rich (highly skilled) is, the less tolerant the poor and the middle-class are toward immigration and the more demanding they are toward increasing public spending. The rich are the most favorable to immigration. As they have more weight, the political outcome is closer to their preferences and further from the preferences of the other groups. We use data from the European Social Survey to test the implications of our model. |
| Keywords: | Probabilistic voting model, public goods, immigration |
| JEL: | H41 J61 D72 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ivi:wpasad:2013-09&r=mig |
| By: | Gabin Langevin (Université de Rennes 1, CREM CNRS UMR 6211, France); Pascaline Vincent (Université de Rennes 1, CREM CNRS UMR 6211, France) |
| Abstract: | Determination and changes of immigrants' identity resulting from intercultural contacts impact their socio-economic integration. To precisely assess individuals’ identity, we propose a continuous index which aims to overcome interpretation troubles faced by usual measures of ethnic identity. Then, we investigate the determinants of immigrants' ethnic identity in France. We compare our composite and continuous index exhibiting individuals' assimilation with a usual measure of ethnic identity – the national identity ("I feel French" dummy). We underline the importance of some sociodemographic characteristics in ethnic identity formation and detail immigrants' assimilation in France. We are thus able to show that cultural assimilation and national identity do not always coincide. It seems that the further the origin (in cultural terms), the higher the national identity, but the lower the assimilation. We also present evidence of second generations' identity convergence to natives’ one, either in terms of national identity (almost total commitment) or assimilation. |
| Keywords: | ethnicity, ethnic identity, first and second generation immigrants, integration, assimilation |
| JEL: | J15 D63 Z13 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tut:cremwp:201341&r=mig |
| By: | Ashley McCormick |
| Abstract: | This paper measures both population ageing and shrinking within the working age populations of all 27 European Union countries between 2010 and 2025, in the absence of any further migration. In this ‘no migration scenario’ it provides the levels of net migration that should be necessary to maintain the size of the young working age population (aged 15-44 years of age). This paper does not give analytic focus to wider non-demographic processes that can either offset or amplify the ageing of skills. For example, neither the introduction of life-long learning programmes nor the postponements to the legal age of retirement are factored into the model. Results highlight that without migrants shows the employed population aged below 45 in all EU member states will have significant levels of shortfall in maintaining the size of the 2010 labour force. |
| Date: | 2013–11–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erp:euirsc:p0353&r=mig |
| By: | Cormac Ó Gráda (University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | A century ago, and for most of the twentieth century, Ireland was a land of emigration, not immigration. However, in the space of less than a decade in the 2000s, Ireland was transformed from a homogeneous community, where nonnative residents were in a very small minority, to one in which one-sixth of its inhabitants are foreign-born. The paper will compare immigration and attitudes towards immigrants in the very different Irelands of a century ago and of the present. |
| Date: | 2013–12–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucn:wpaper:201319&r=mig |
| By: | Skeldon, Ronald (UNU-MERIT / MGSoG, and University of Sussex) |
| Abstract: | Migration was not an explicit goal of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), rightly so in this writer's view, but it was indirectly an integral part of achieving many, if not all, of the goals themselves. As we move towards the end of the MDG period in 2015, it is worth reflecting upon what will follow, and if and how migration should be incorporated into what is to follow. Two dimensions are central to such a discussion: first, the nature of the development goals post-2015; second, how migration might fit into these goals. These notes and reflections will conclude with a possible policy direction that just might provide a path towards integrating migration into development. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Development, Post 2015 Development Agenda, Millennium Development Goals, MDGs |
| JEL: | F22 O15 |
| Date: | 2013–12–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013065&r=mig |
| By: | Johanna Catherine Maclean; Douglas Webber; Jody L. Sindelar |
| Abstract: | In this study we examine the importance of assimilation and ethnic enclave residence for smoking outcomes among United States immigrants. We draw data on over 140,000 immigrants from the Current Population Survey Tobacco Use Supplements between 1995 and 2011. Several patterns emerge from our analysis. First we replicate findings from previous studies that show that longer residence in the U.S is associated with improved employment outcomes while ethnic enclave residence may hinder these outcomes. Second, we find that assimilation similarly extends to coverage of employment-based anti-smoking policies such as worksite smoking bans and smoking cessation programs while enclave residence does not substantially influence these outcomes. Third, we document complex relationships between assimilation, enclave residence, and smoking outcomes. Lastly, we find no strong evidence that immigrants reduce their smoking when faced with more restrictive state anti-smoking policies and find counter-intuitive impacts of tobacco taxes. These findings have important policy implications. |
| JEL: | I1 I18 J18 J48 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19753&r=mig |
| By: | Hercog, Metka (UNU-MERIT / MGSoG); Van de Laar, Mindel (UNU-MERIT / MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | Faced with a situation in which countries compete for international students, it becomes especially important to understand students' preferences regarding migration behaviour. This paper looks at the determinants of international mobility intentions in the specific situation of Indian students in sciences and engineering. It uses data collected from a survey of students at five Indian universities, complemented by qualitative data from interviews. We looked at the role of students' personal and family background, university-related factors, their social network and preferences for living location in their motivations for moving abroad. The type of university and field of studies work as strong predictors for students' desire to move abroad. Whether a student plans a career in academia or wants to work in a company has a decisive influence on where they see themselves in the near future. Professional aspects are confirmed to be the most prominent in the decision-making regarding international mobility. People who place high importance on work-related factors are more mobile, while people who place higher importance on family-friendly environment and public safety prefer staying in India. International student mobility is clearly a family decision. Parents' support is crucial for moving abroad, in moral as well as in financial terms. Normally, obligations towards family are put in first place ahead of potential individual initiatives. |
| Keywords: | location choices, pull factors, higher education, student migration, India |
| JEL: | F22 J61 I23 J24 |
| Date: | 2013–12–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013067&r=mig |
| By: | Gillian Kingston (Economic and Social Research Institute and Department of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin); Frances McGinnity (Economic and Social Research Institute and Department of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin); Philip J. O’Connell (UCD Geary Institute, University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | Previous research shows that immigrants, in common with other groups that suffer disadvantage in the labour market, are more vulnerable during recession (Hoynes et al., 2012; McGinnity et al., 2013; Sierminska and Takhtamanova, 2010). However, little research has focused on the impact of the Great Recession on work-related discrimination. We examine the extent to which discrimination varies across different national-ethnic groups, and whether discrimination increased between 2004, during an economic boom, and 2010, in the midst of a severe recession. Our analysis draws on two large-scale nationally representative surveys on the experience of labour market discrimination. We find that overall immigrants do experience higher rates of work based discrimination, however discrimination does not increase with the recession. We find substantial variation in discrimination across national-ethnic groups, and indicate that ethnicity plays an important influence on the experience of discrimination. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination, recession, nationality, ethnicity, labour market |
| JEL: | J61 J71 |
| Date: | 2013–12–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucd:wpaper:201323&r=mig |
| By: | Kevin Denny (School of Economics University College Dublin and UCD Geary Institute); Cormac Ó Gráda (School of Economics University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | Given the huge size, relatively speaking, of the human influx into Ireland over the past decade or so, the evolution of Irish attitudes to immigration is of more than parochial interest. In this paper we use the six rounds of the European Social Survey (2002-2012) in seeking to account for those attitudes and chart their evolution. We also employ standard Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions in order to identify the relative importance of shifts in ‘tastes’ and of changes in underlying economic conditions in accounting for changes before and after the collapse of the Celtic Tiger. |
| Keywords: | public opinion, immigration, xenophobia |
| JEL: | F22 |
| Date: | 2013–12–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucd:wpaper:201322&r=mig |
| By: | Andrew Geddes and Andrew Taylor |
| Abstract: | This paper explores a neglected aspect of the wider debate about EU enlargement; namely bilateral disputes between a Member State and an applicant, where the former uses, or threatens to use, its membership to block membership to resolve a dispute. As we show through analysis of three cases - Italy and Slovenia, Slovenia and Croatia, and Greece and Macedonia - the EU's transformative power does not always flow 'outwards' towards the state seeking membership. This raises interesting questions about enlargement asinternational bargaining between sovereign states filtered via a supranational entity formally responsible for the negotiations. Our cases suggest limits to the EU's transformative power in the context of disputes that are linked to the meaning and significance of borders. When enlargement intersects with identity politics, the result can be potentially destabilizing in ways that can lead to a decline in the EU's legitimacy. It is not surprising that the Commission prefers disputes to be resolved bilaterally or via a third-party. The author Andrew Geddes is Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield. He has written extensively on aspects of British, European and EU politics, with a particularfocus on the politics of migration. Recent publications include Migration and Mobility in the EU (with Christina Boswell) and The EU and South East Europe: The Dynamics of Multi-Level Governance and Europeanisation (with AndrewTaylor and Charles Lees). He was a Visiting Fellow at the Kolleg-Forschergruppe "The Transformative Power of Europe" in June/July 2012. From February 2013,he will be lead investigator for a 5-year European Research Council 'advanced'project on international migration governance. Contact: a.geddes@sheffield.ac.ukAndrew Taylor is Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield. He was principal investigator on the ESRC funded project on the development of multi-level governance in South East Europe. In recent years his work has focused on the Europeanization of the Western Balkans and the nature of state effectiveness; his most recent bookis State Failure (Palgrave Macmillan) and he is beginning a research project on the EU's role in state-building in Western Balkans. He is also working on the politics of bordering in the United Kingdom. Contact: a.j.taylor@sheffield.ac.uk |
| Keywords: | enlargement; identity; legitimacy |
| Date: | 2013–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erp:kfgxxx:p0054&r=mig |
| By: | Fernandez-Leiceaga, Xoaquin; Lago-Peñas, Santiago; Sánchez, Patricio |
| Abstract: | The very strong foreign immigration in Spain between 1999 and 2009 has generated very limited effects on interregional convergence of per capita GDP and productivity, unlike what happened with the internal migration flows between 1955 and 1979. This article is aimed at explaining why. Results show that while GDP per capita and productivity have fallen in comparative terms in regions attracting a higher proportion of immigrants, these regions have not been the richest and most productive. Immigrants choose to go to regions where there are more job opportunities or acquaintances and family networks, but not necessarily to the most prosperous regions from a macroeconomic standpoint. |
| Keywords: | migrations, inter-regional convergence, neoclassical model |
| JEL: | J61 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:52381&r=mig |