|
on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Batista, Catia (Universidade Nova de Lisboa); Umblijs, Janis (Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Do migrants send remittances as a way of obtaining insurance? While this motive is theoretically suggested in the literature, the question of identifying this relationship empirically has only begun to be explored. Using a unique representative survey of 1500 immigrants in the Greater Dublin Area, Ireland, we find a positive and significant relationship between risk aversion and remittance behavior. Risk-averse individuals are more likely to send remittances home and are, on average, likely to remit a higher amount, after controlling for a broad range of individual and group characteristics. Consistent with a "purchase of self-insurance" motive to remit, we also provide evidence of more remittances sent by risk averse immigrants facing higher wage risks and remitting to individuals with more financial resources. |
| Keywords: | migration, risk aversion, remittances, insurance |
| JEL: | D81 F22 F24 J01 J08 J15 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7984&r=mig |
| By: | Orrenius, Pia M. (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas); Zavodny, Madeline (Agnes Scott College) |
| 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 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7992&r=mig |
| By: | Luisa Alamá-Sabater (Department of Economics and IIDL, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain); Maite Alguacil (Department of Economics and IEI, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain); Joan Serafí Bernat-Martí (Department of Economics, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain) |
| Abstract: | Traditionally, Spain has been a destination for people coming from rich European countries. However, at the end of the last century, the pattern of these immigrant flows changed. The Spanish economic growth model, based on the construction industry, attracted large numbers of immigrants motivated by employment opportunities rather than by the climate conditions. In this article, we analyze the determinants that lead immigrants to move to a particular Spanish province, considering the economic and geographical differences across alternative destinations. We study this question empirically through the estimation of account models for panel data, covering the period 1998-2011. Our findings confirm the initial hypothesis that agglomeration and congestion economic forces play an important role in explaining the location decision of immigrant flows in Spanish provinces. They also reveal the importance of other regional factors, such as the productive structure of the territory, the labor market situation and the urban nature of the region. This result holds even after controlling for the specific, fixed or random, province factors. |
| Keywords: | migration flows, networks effects; migration flows, networks effects, account models |
| JEL: | R23 F22 C25 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jau:wpaper:2014/07&r=mig |
| By: | Hatton, Timothy J. (University of Essex) |
| Abstract: | Historical experience suggests that when a period of rising immigration is followed by a sudden slump, this can trigger a policy backlash. This has not occurred in the current recession. This paper examines three links in the chain between the slump and immigration policy. First, although immigration flows have responded to the slump, and immigrants have borne more than their share of the burden, this has done little to protect the employment of non-immigrants. Second, despite the recession for Europe as a whole, attitudes to immigration have not changed very much, and they have been influenced more by fiscal concerns than by rising unemployment. Third, while far right parties have used the recession to renew the political pressure for tougher immigration policies, governments have been constrained by the composition of immigration and by EU regulation. |
| Keywords: | European immigration, recession, immigration policy |
| JEL: | F22 F52 J15 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7985&r=mig |
| By: | Sari Pekkala Kerr; William R. Kerr; William F. Lincoln |
| 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 fi rms themselves (e.g., the H-1B visa). OLS and IV speci cations 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: | 2014–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wdi:papers:2014-1071&r=mig |
| By: | Ilhom Abdulloev; Gil S. Epstein (Bar-Ilan University); Ira N. Gang (Rutgers University) |
| Abstract: | Some immigrants try to keep their ethnicity hidden while others become ever deeply more mired in their home culture. We argue that among immigrants this struggle manifests itself in the ethnic goods they choose to consume. Different types of ethnic goods have vastly different effects on immigrant assimilation. We develop a simple theoretical model useful for capturing the consequences of this struggle, illustrating it with examples of Central Asian assimilation into the Muscovite economy. |
| Keywords: | assimilation, migrants, culture, ethnic goods |
| JEL: | J15 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1409&r=mig |
| By: | Tano, Sofia (Department of Economics, Umeå School of Business and Economics) |
| Abstract: | The present paper estimates the relationship between migration across labour-market regions and the subsequent changes in earnings in Sweden by using the individual’s grade point average (GPA) from the final year of comprehensive school as a proxy for ability. This measure aims to capture heterogeneity in the effects of mobility on earnings for individuals conditional on educational attainment and other observed traits. Register data from Sweden, including two whole cohorts of individuals, is used. A difference-in-difference propensity score matching estimator is applied to estimate the relationship between income and migration up to seven years after migrating. The results show variation between different ability groups with respect to the return to regional migration. There are indications of larger gains for individuals holding top grades, while the bottom half seems to benefit less, or have slightly negative returns. The difference in return to migration across GPA quartiles is larger for women than for men. |
| Keywords: | Human capital; income; internal migration; propensity score matching |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2014–02–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:umnees:0880&r=mig |
| By: | Prantl, Susanne; Spitz-Oener, Alexandra (Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]) |
| Abstract: | "Does interacting product and labor market regulation alter the impact of immigration on wages of competing native workers? Focusing on the large, sudden and unanticipated wave of migration from East to West Germany after German reunification and allowing for endogenous immigration, we compare native wage reactions across different segments of the West German labor market: one segment without product and labor market regulation, to which standard immigration models best apply, one segment in which product and labor market regulation interact, and one segment covering intermediate groups of workers. We find that the wages of competing native West Germans respond negatively to the large influx of similar East German workers in the segment with almost free firm entry into product markets and weak worker influence on the decision-making of firms. Competing native workers are insulated from such pressure if firm entry regulation interacts with labor market institutions, implying a strong influence of workers on the decision-making of profit-making firms." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | Gütermarkt, Arbeitsmarkt, Regulierung, Binnenwanderung, Arbeitsmigration, institutionelle Faktoren, staatlicher Zusammenschluss, Handwerk, Handwerksordnung, Betriebsrat, Betriebsverfassungsgesetz, Arbeitsmarktentwicklung, regionaler Arbeitsmarkt, Einwanderung - Auswirkungen, Einkommenseffekte, Inländer, Westdeutschland, Ostdeutschland |
| JEL: | J61 L50 J3 |
| Date: | 2014–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201404&r=mig |
| By: | Tano, Sofia (Department of Economics, Umeå School of Business and Economics) |
| Abstract: | The spatial distribution of human capital plays a fundamental role for regional differences in economic growth and welfare. This paper examines how individual ability indicated by the grade point average (GPA), from comprehensive school, affects the probability of migration among young university graduates in Sweden. Using detailed micro data available from the Swedish population registers, the study examines two cohorts of individuals who enrol in tertiary education. The results indicate that individual abilities reflected by the GPA are strongly influential when it comes to completing a university degree and for the migration decision after graduation. Moreover, there is a positive relationship between the GPA and the choice of migrating from regions with a relatively low tax base and a relatively small share of highly educated people in the population. Analogously, individuals with a high GPA tend to stay at a higher rate in more flourishing regions. |
| Keywords: | Bivariate probit; individual ability; migration; regional clustering; university graduates |
| JEL: | I23 J24 R23 |
| Date: | 2014–02–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:umnees:0879&r=mig |
| By: | Jamal BOUOIYOUR; Amal MIFTAH |
| Abstract: | The impact of Migrant Workers' Remittances on the Living Standards of families in Morocco: a Propensity Score Matching Approach |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tac:wpaper:2013-2014_10&r=mig |
| By: | Berck, Peter (Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Policy); Tano, Sofia (Department of Economics, Umeå School of Business and Economics); Westerlund, Olle (Department of Economics, Umeå School of Business and Economics) |
| Abstract: | Migration rates are highest among young adults, especially students, and their location choices affect the regional distribution of human capital, growth and local public sector budgets. Using Swedish register data on young adults, the choice of whether to enroll in education and the choice of location are estimated jointly. The results indicate a systematic selection into investment in further education based on school grades and associated preferences for locations with higher per capita tax bases. For students, the estimates indicate lower preferences for locations with higher shares of older people. The importance of family networks for the choice of location is confirmed. |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration; human capital; local public sector; location choice |
| JEL: | J24 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2014–02–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:umnees:0878&r=mig |