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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Michel Beinea; Simone Bertolib; Jesús Fernández-Huertas Moraga |
| Abstract: | The use of bilateral data for the analysis of international migration is at the same time a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing since the dyadic dimension of the data allows researchers to analyze many previously unaddressed questions in the literature. This paper reviews some of the recent studies using this type of data in a gravity framework in order to identify important factors affecting international migration ows. Our review demonstrates that considerable efforts have been conducted by many scholars and that overall we have a much better knowledge of the relevant determinants. Still, the use of bilateral data is also a curse. The methodological challenges that are implied by the use of this type of data are numerous and our paper covers some of the most significant ones. These include sound theoretical foundations, accounting for multilateral resistance to migration as well the choice of appropriate estimation techniques dealing with the nature of the migration data and with endogeneity concerns. |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fda:fdaddt:2014-03&r=mig |
| By: | Stefano Breschi (CRIOS – Università Bocconi, Milan); Francesco Lissoni (GREThA – Université Montesquieu, Bordeaux IV and CRIOS – Università Bocconi, Milan); Gianluca Tarasconi (CRIOS – Università Bocconi, Milan) |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the existing literature on migration and innovation, with special emphasis on empirical studies based on patent and inventor data. Other sources of micro-data are examined, too, for comparative purposes. A pilot database, based on patent filings at the European Patent Office is presented. It contains information on individual inventors, including their country of residence and of origin. Preliminary evidence suggests that immigrant inventors contribute to innovation not only in the US, but also in selected European countries, where they often rank among the most productive individuals. Data on returnee inventors to selected countries of origin suggest the phenomenon to be of limited scale, and highly subject to errors of measurement. |
| Keywords: | immigration, innovation, inventor data, patent data |
| JEL: | F22 O15 O31 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wip:wpaper:17&r=mig |
| By: | Ajay Agrawal (University of Toronto and NBER.) |
| Abstract: | I summarize key findings from the literature on how distance, relationships, and ethnic ties influence knowledge flows and describe a model that relates emigration and the diaspora to knowledge flows. I then recap a key study that reports evidence of a link from the diaspora and knowledge flows to home country manufacturing productivity. Next, I summarize the ways in which intellectual property protection may influence knowledge flow patterns through incentives (market for ideas) and disincentives (anticommons). Finally, I speculate on how diaspora knowledge flows and intellectual property may alleviate developing country low-productivity equilibria (“poverty traps”) caused by an underinvestment in specialized human capital. |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wip:wpaper:15&r=mig |
| By: | Orrenius, Pia M. (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas); Zavodny, Madeline (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas) |
| Abstract: | A number of states have adopted laws that require employers to use the federal government’s E-Verify program to check workers’ eligibility to work legally in the United States. Using data from the Current Population Survey, this study examines whether such laws affect labor market outcomes among Mexican immigrants who are likely to be unauthorized. We find evidence that E-Verify mandates reduce average hourly earnings among likely unauthorized male Mexican immigrants while increasing labor force participation and employment among likely unauthorized female Mexican immigrants. In contrast, the mandates appear to lead to better labor market outcomes among workers likely to compete with unauthorized immigrants. Employment and earnings rise among male Mexican immigrants who are naturalized citizens in states that adopt E-Verify mandates, and earnings rise among U.S.-born Hispanic men. |
| Keywords: | unauthorized immigration; immigration policy; electronic verification; E-Verify |
| JEL: | J15 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–02–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:feddwp:1403&r=mig |
| By: | William R. Kerr (University, NBER, and Bank of Finland.) |
| Abstract: | High-skilled immigrants are a very important component of U.S. innovation and entrepreneurship. Immigrants account for roughly a quarter of U.S. workers in these fields, and they have a similar contribution in terms of output measures like patents or firm starts. This contribution has been rapidly growing over the last three decades. In terms of quality, the average skilled immigrant appears to be better trained to work in these fields, but conditional on educational attainment of comparable quality to natives. The exception to this is that immigrants have a disproportionate impact among the very highest achievers (e.g., Nobel Prize winners). Studies regarding the impact of immigrants on natives tend to find limited consequences in the short-run, while the results in the long-run are more varied and much less certain. Immigrants in the United States aid business and technology exchanges with their home countries, but the overall effect that the migration has on the home country remains unclear. We know very little about return migration of workers engaged in innovation and entrepreneurship, except that it is rapidly growing in importance. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, innovation, entrepreneurship, diaspora |
| JEL: | F15 F22 J15 J31 J44 L14 L26 O31 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wip:wpaper:16&r=mig |
| By: | Bertoli, Simone; Rapoport, Hillel |
| Abstract: | A growing number of OECD countries are leaning toward adopting quality-selective immigration policies. The underlying assumption behind such policies is that more skill-selection should raise immigrants’ average quality (or education level). This view tends to neglect two important dynamic effects: the role of migration networks, which could reduce immigrants’ quality, and the responsiveness of education decisions to the prospects of migration. Our model shows that migration networks and immigrants’ quality can be positively associated under a set of sufficient conditions regarding the degree of selectivity of immigration policies, the initial pattern of migrants’ self-selection on education, and the way time-equivalent migration costs by education level relate to networks. The results imply that the relationship between networks and immigrants’ quality should vary with the degree of selectivity of immigration policies at destination. Empirical evidence presented as background motivation for this paper suggests that this is indeed the case. |
| Keywords: | migration; self-selection; brain drain; immigration policy; discrete choice models |
| JEL: | F22 O15 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:1405&r=mig |
| By: | Andersson L. (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of international remittances and migration on household welfare in Ethiopia. We employ both subjective a households subjective economic well-being and objective measures asset holdings and asset accumulation to define household welfare. A matching approach is applied to address self-selection, and by exploiting information before and after the households began receiving remittances, the study sheds light on the changes in welfare associated with international migration and remittances. The results reveal that remittances have a significant impact on a welfare variable that has previously not received much attention in the migration literature, namely household subjective economic well-being. In addition, we find that remittances have positive effects on consumer asset accumulation, especially in rural areas, but no effect on productive assets. |
| Keywords: | International Migration; Remittances; Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration; |
| JEL: | F22 F24 O15 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2014004&r=mig |
| By: | Docquier, Frédéric; Lodigiani, Elisabetta; Rapoport, Hillel; Schiff, Maurice |
| Abstract: | International migration is an important determinant of institutions, not considered so far in the empirical growth literature. Using cross-section and panel analysis for a large sample of developing countries, we find that openness to emigration (as measured by the general emigration rate) has a positive effect on home-country institutional development (as measured by standard democracy indices). The results are robust to a wide range of specifications and estimation methods. Remarkably, the cross-sectional estimates are fully in line with the implied long-run relationship from dynamic panel regressions. |
| Keywords: | Migration; Institutions; Democracy; Development |
| JEL: | O15 O43 F22 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:1406&r=mig |