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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Eliane El Badaoui; Eric Strobl; Frank Walsh |
| Abstract: | We estimate the impact of internal migration on local labour markets in Thailand. Using an instrumental variable approach based on weather and distance we estimate an exogenous measure of the net migration inflow into each region. Our results show that instrumenting for the possible endogeneity of net inward migration is crucial to the analysis. The results suggest that wages of low skill male workers are highly flexible with substantial adjustments in hours worked and weekly wages in response to short term changes in labour supply. We find no effect on high skilled workers. |
| Keywords: | Internal migration, Labour markets, Thailand |
| JEL: | O15 J10 |
| Date: | 2014–01–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-30&r=mig |
| By: | Siegenthaler, Michael; Basten, Christoph |
| Abstract: | We estimate the causal effect of immigration on unemployment, employment and wages of resident employees in Switzerland, whose foreign labor force has increased by 32.8% in the last ten years. To address endogeneity of immigration into different labor market cells, we develop new variants of the shift-share instrument that exploit only that part in the variation of immigration which can be explained by migration push-factors in the source countries. While OLS estimates suggest that immigrants have crowded out natives, our quasi-experimental results reveal that immigration has in fact reduced unemployment and increased employment of residents in the last decade. -- |
| JEL: | F22 J21 J61 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79780&r=mig |
| By: | Bulent Guler (Indiana University - Bloomington) |
| Abstract: | We quantify the contribution of women's labor force attachment on the declining trend in interstate migration. Using CPS and SIPP data, we first document that families in which both spouses have similar incomes, the propensity to migrate is significantly lower than in families with unequal spousal earnings. We construct a labor search model in which households make location, marriage, and divorce decisions. We calibrate the model to match aggregate U.S. statistics on mobility, marriage and labor flows and use it to quantify the effect of a fall in the gender wage gap on interstate migration. Narrowing the gender wage gap increases the women's contribution to the total family income; it induces a higher share of families with both spouses working and more couples with similar incomes. Our model predicts that the observed change in the gender wage gap accounts for 33% of the drop in family migration since 1991. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed013:898&r=mig |
| By: | Eric Strobl; Frank Walsh |
| Abstract: | We show in a monopsony model that in response to a small increase in migration employment will increase in both low productivity non-compliant firms who pay less than and in high productivity firms who pay more than the minimum wage, but will increase by proportionately more in minimum wage firms who are constrained by the labour supply curve. Using data from Thailand we provide evidence that increases in inward net migration are indeed associated with a proportionately greater increase in employment at than below the minimum wage. |
| Date: | 2014–01–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipg:wpaper:2014-28&r=mig |
| By: | Yeter, Mustafa; Stichnoth, Holger |
| Abstract: | Using an epidemiological approach, we study the cultural influence on fertility outcomes of first- and second-generation female immigrants based on a 1% sample of the German population. We proxy for culture in the country of origin using total fertility rates from the year of migration, survey measures of fertility norms and cohort fertility rates from the year of birth. The last measure has not been used in the literature before. The large dataset allows us to focus on a relatively narrow range for age at migration and to estimate models that rely on within-country variation only, leading to more credible identification. We find a statistically significant, sizeable and robust impact of country-of-origin fertility rates on fertility outcomes. The impact works mainly through the intensive margin and less through the probability of having children. It is strongest in the first generation and becomes weaker for generation 1.5 (migrants arriving as children) and the second generation. The cultural influence is strongest for women with low education. -- |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J15 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79882&r=mig |
| By: | Jahn, Elke; Hirsch, Boris; Toomet, Ott; Hochfellner, Daniela |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes wage assimilation of ethnic German immigrants to Germany. We use unique administrative data that include a standardized measure of immigrants' pre-migration wage based on occupation, industry, tenure, qualification, and the German wage structure. We find that immigrants experience a substantial initial wage disadvantage compared to natives. During their first 15 years in the host country they manage to close a considerable part of this gap, though assimilation is only partial. A 10% higher pre-migration wage translates into a 1.6% higher wage in Germany when also controlling for educational attainment, thus pointing at partial transferability of human capital acquired in the source country to the host country's labor market. We also find that wage assimilation is significantly accelerated for immigrants with a higher pre-migration wage. Our results are in line with strong complementarities between general skills and host country-specific human capital, in particular proficiency in the host country's language. -- |
| JEL: | J61 J31 J24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79833&r=mig |
| By: | Kramer, Anica; Basilio, Leilanie; Bauer, Thomas K. |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the transferability of human capital across countries and the contribution of imperfect human capital portability to the explanation of the immigrant-native wage gap. Using data for West Germany, our results reveal that, overall, education and labor market experience accumulated in the home countries of the immigrants receive signi cantly lower returns than human capital obtained in Germany. We further nd evidence for heterogeneity in the returns to human capital of immigrants across origin countries. Finally, imperfect human capital transferability appears to be a major factor in explaining the wage di erential between natives and immigrants. -- |
| JEL: | J61 J31 J24 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79964&r=mig |
| By: | Sweetman, A.; Ours, J.C. van (Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Abstract: Intergenerational immigrant integration is central to the economic growth and social development of many countries whose populations comprise a substantial share of the children and grandchildren of immigrants. In addition to basic demographics, relevant economic theories and institutional features are surveyed to assist in understanding these phenomena. Building on this foundation, educational and labor market success across the immigrant generations are reviewed, and then studies on the evolution of social outcomes across those same generations are discussed. Overall, substantial cross-national heterogeneity in outcomes is observed as various sources of immigration interact with distinct national labor markets and educational/social contexts that have diverse approaches to integrating immigrants. |
| Keywords: | Second-generation immigration;1.5-generation immigration;educational attainment;labor market position;intergenerational assimilation;economic integration |
| JEL: | J15 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:kubcen:2014009&r=mig |
| By: | Brücker, Herbert; Bertoli, Simone; Fernández-Huertas Moraga, Jesús |
| Abstract: | The analysis of how the economic crisis in Europe has reshaped migration flows faces two challenges: (i) the confounding influence of correlated changes in the attractiveness of alternative destinations, and (ii) the role of rapidly changing expectations about the evolution of the economic conditions in various countries. This paper addresses the first challenge by controlling for multilateral resistance to migration, and the second one by incorporating 10-year bond yields as an explanatory variable in a study of European bilateral migration flows to Germany between 2006 and 2012. We show that, while expectations and current economic conditions at origin are significant determinants of migration, diversion effects account for 78 percent of the observed increase in German gross migration inflows. -- |
| JEL: | F22 O15 J61 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79693&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:unm:umagsb:2013043&r=mig |
| By: | John F. Helliwell; Shun Wang; Jinwen Xu |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the global prevalence of social trust and generosity among immigrants. We combine individual and national level data from immigrants and native-born respondents in more than 130 countries, using seven waves of the Gallup World Poll (2005-2012). The results show that the effect of source country social trust is about one-third as large as that from trust levels in the destination countries where the migrant now lives. Migrants from low-trust environments are especially affected by the low trust in their country of origin even after migration, while migrants from high-trust environments are less likely to import the high trust of their country of origin to their current country of residence. We also show that, holding constant the effects of imported trust, immigrants and the native-born have similar levels of social trust. We find similar, but smaller, footprint effects for generosity. To help confirm that the footprint effects for social norms represent more than just that it takes time to learn about new surroundings, we undertake similar tests for trust in national institutions, where we would not expect to see footprint effects. In contrast to our social trust and generosity results, and consistent with our expectations, we find no footprint effects for opinions about domestic institutions in the new country. |
| JEL: | J15 P51 Z13 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19855&r=mig |
| By: | Steinhardt, Max; Conconi, Paola; Facchini, Giovanni; Zanardi, Maurizio |
| Abstract: | Over the last decades, the United States has become increasingly integrated in the world economy. Very low trade barriers and comparatively liberal migration policies have made these developments possible. What drove US congressmen to support the recent wave of globalization? While much of the literature has emphasized the differences that exist between the political economy of trade and migration, in this paper we find that important similarities should not be overlooked. In particular, our analysis of congressional voting between 1970 and 2006 suggests that economic drivers that work through the labor market play an important role in shaping representatives' behavior on both types of policies. Representatives from more skilled-labor abundant districts are more likely to support both trade liberalization and a more open stance vis-a-vis unskilled immigration. Still, important systematic differences exist: welfare state considerations and network effects have an impact on the support for immigration liberalization, but not for trade; Democratic lawmakers are systematically more likely to support a more open migration stance than their Republican counterparts, and the opposite is true for trade liberalization. -- |
| JEL: | F22 H00 J61 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79961&r=mig |
| By: | Peter Huber (WIFO); Doris A. Oberdabernig (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | We study differences in contributory and non-contributory welfare benefit receipt between immigrants and natives for 16 EU countries. In contrast to previous studies we analyse differences in benefit levels allowing for potentially different takeup rates between immigrants and natives and use Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions to discuss residual welfare dependence. Results point to substantial heterogeneity in welfare dependence between countries when not controlling for observed characteristics of immigrants and natives. This is primarily due to different selection into benefits between immigrants and natives and differences in their characteristics (mainly income, personal, and household characteristics). Once this is controlled for, immigrants participate at most equally often in both types of benefits as natives and usually also receive lower or comparable benefit levels. |
| Keywords: | EU countries, immigration, Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions, welfare benefits |
| Date: | 2014–01–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2014:i:459&r=mig |
| By: | Steiner, Susan; Chakraborty, Tanika; Mirkasimov, Bakhrom |
| Abstract: | Private transfers between households in developing countries have been extensively studied and shown to be economically important as mechanisms of risk sharing and income redistribution. We argue that migration and remittances have the potential to modify the prevalent transfer behaviour in migrant-sending communities. A priori, it is indeterminate whether migration and remittances strengthen or weaken the degree of private transfers. We use data from a detailed household survey in Kyrgyzstan, designed by the authors, to empirically study the effect of migration and remittances on both monetary and non-monetary transfers. We find that migrant households provide more monetary transfers and receive more non-monetary transfers compared with non-migrant households, particularly in rural areas. Furthermore, we find that the transfer of non-monetary help, in the form of labour, takes place only in the presence of labour constraints within the household. We argue that distinguishing between the nature of transfers, monetary or non-monetary, is important in the context of the vast literature investigating private transfer motives. -- |
| JEL: | F22 O12 I30 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79713&r=mig |
| By: | Brinda Viswanathan (Madras School of Economics); K. S. Kavi Kumar (Madras School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This study explores the three way linkage between weather variability, agricultural performance and internal migration in India at state and district level using Indian Census data. We base all the analyses on a simultaneous equation model for panel data. The elasticity of inter-state out-migration rate with respect to the per capita net state domestic product is approximately (-)0.75. The crop-wise analysis, on the other hand, shows that the (negative) elasticities are higher and more substantial for rice (-1.85) than for wheat (-0.90). The district-level analysis shows larger magnitudes of estimated change in in-migration rates to relative changes in crop yields. The results suggest that the impact of yield change on the in-migration rate depends on both the inter-play between inter- and intra-district in-migration rates as well as the crop under consideration. The study findings could thus have significant policy relevance, especially in the context of global climate change and the prospect of migration serving as a potential adaptation strategy for people adversely affected by the impact of weather variability on crop yield. |
| Keywords: | Weather Variability; Agricultural Impacts; Internal Migration; Developing Countries; Climate Change; Adaptation |
| JEL: | O15 Q54 R11 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mad:wpaper:2013-080&r=mig |
| By: | Walter, Thomas; Butschek, Sebastian |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we provide a quantitative answer to the question what types of active labour market programmes (ALMPs) work for immigrants. From the existing literature, we identify 24 research papers estimating 79 short-run treatment effects of ALMPs on immigrants. We perform a meta-analysis of these findings based on the sign and significance of the estimates. This allows us to present quantitative evidence for the relative effectiveness for immigrants of different types of ALMPs. Our finding that only subsidised private-sector employment can be recommended is relevant to European policymakers allocating scarce resources in the face of high immigrant unemployment. -- |
| JEL: | J15 J61 I38 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79745&r=mig |
| By: | Spring, Eva; Grossmann, Volker |
| Abstract: | Trust in the citizens of a potential partner country may affect the decision to trade with or to migrate to a foreign country. This paper employs panel data to examine the causal impact of such bilateral trust on international trade and migration patterns. We apply instrumental variables (IV) approaches that capture the exogenous variance of bilateral trust separately with various indicators of genetic ("somatic") distance between country-pairs. These indicators work equally well at the first stage. However, second-stage results very much depend on the exact measure employed as instrument. We conclude that there is little evidence that bilateral trust affects international movements of goods and labor. Moreover, we highlight the potential fragility of IV estimations even when the instruments seem plausible on theoretical grounds and when standard statistical tests confirm their validity. -- |
| JEL: | F10 F22 Z10 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79956&r=mig |
| By: | Vasilakis, Chrysovalantis (Department of Economics, University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | Complex interactions between high-skilled migration and aggregate performance govern the dynamics of growth and inequality across nations. Due to lack of data, these interdependencies have not been extensively studied in the economics literature. This paper takes advantage of the availability of rich panel data on the mobility of talented football players, and the performances of national leagues and teams to quantify the effect of a "globalization" shock, the 1995 Bosman rule, on global efficiency and cross-country inequality in football. I built a micro-founded model endogenizing migration decisions, inequality and training; I estimated its structural parameters; and I used numerical simulations to compare actual data with a counterfactual no-Bosman trajectory. My analysis reveals that the Bosman shock (i) increased global efficiency in football, (ii) increased inequality across leagues, and (iii) decreased inequality across national teams. I quantify the effect of the Bosman rule on the football hierarchy of UEFA and FIFA. Countries from Africa, South (except Argentina and Brazil) and Central America have produced more talents and benefitted from brain-gain type effects. My results also show that this brain-gain mechanism is the major source of efficiency gains. However, it plays only a minor role in explaining the rising inequality. JEL classification: International Migration ; Brain Drain ; Globalization ; Inequality ; European Football JEL codes: F22 ; J61 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1034&r=mig |
| By: | Kornder N.; Dronkers J.; Dronkers J. (GSBE) |
| Abstract: | We try to explain the differences between the performance (in both reading and math) of 8430 15-year-old daughters and 8526 15-year-old sons in 17 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development destination countries across Europe and Oceania with the PISA 2009 data from 45 origin countries or regions. In addition to the level of societal gender equality of the origin and destination countries (the gender empowerment measure, or GEM) we use macro indicators of the educational systems, economic development, and religions of the countries of origin. We find that migrant daughters from countries with higher levels of gender equality have higher reading scores than comparable migrant sons (but this is not the case for math scores). In addition, the higher the level of gender equality in the destination countries, the lower the reading and math scores of both the male and female migrants’ children in their destination countries. Further analyses suggest that the difference between the levels of gender equality, rather than the levels themselves, of the origin and destination countries explains more of the educational performance of both female and male migrant pupils. Our results also show that the low level of gender equality in Islamic origin countries is a sufficient explanation of the low educational performance of Islam male and female migrants’ pupils. Finally, migrants’ daughters seem to perform slightly better educationally than comparable migrants’ sons. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2013018&r=mig |
| By: | Braun, Sebastian; Kvasnicka, Michael |
| Abstract: | Does immigration accelerate sectoral change towards high-productivity sectors? This paper uses the mass displacement of ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe to West Germany after World War II as a natural experiment to study this question. A simple two-sector specific factors model, in which moving costs prevent the marginal product of labor to be equalized across sectors, predicts that immigration boosts output per worker by expanding the high-productivity sector, but decreases output per worker within a sector. Using German district-level data from before and after the war, we find empirical support for these predictions. -- |
| JEL: | J61 F22 N34 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79864&r=mig |