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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Thomas Y. Mathä; Alessandro Porpiglia; Michael Ziegelmeyer |
| Abstract: | Crossing borders, be it international or regional, often go together with price, wage or indeed wealth discontinuities. This paper identifies substantial wealth differences between Luxembourg resident households and cross-border commuter households despite their similar incomes. The average (median) net wealth difference is estimated to be EUR 367,000 (EUR129,000) and increases for higher percentiles. Using several different regression and decomposition techniques, spatial (regional) differences in real estate price developments, and thus differences in accumulated nominal capital gains are shown to be one main driving factor for these wealth differences. Other factors contributing to the observed wealth differences are differences in age, income, education and other household characteristics. |
| Keywords: | household survey, wealth, real estate price dynamics, cross-border commuting |
| JEL: | D31 J61 F22 R23 R31 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcl:bclwop:bclwp090&r=mig |
| By: | Lei Meng |
| Abstract: | In this paper I examine if China's grain subsidy program keeps farmers from engaging in migratory work using self-collected panel rural household survey data from Zhijiang, Hubei province. Making use of Zhijiang's unique geographical features, I construct a treatment and a control group and use a difference-in-differences methodology to identify the subsidy effect on migration. My results suggest that the grain subsidy policy does keep farmers at the rural origin. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Agricultural subsidy, Rural China |
| JEL: | J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2013–10–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wyi:journl:002171&r=mig |
| By: | Alicia Adserà (Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs & Office of Population Research, Princeton University); Ana Ferrer (Department of Economics, University of Waterloo) |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wat:wpaper:1401&r=mig |
| By: | Jamal BOUOIYOUR; Amal MIFTAH |
| Abstract: | Why do Migrants remit? An insightful Analysis for Moroccan Case |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tac:wpaper:2013-2014_13&r=mig |
| By: | Bouoiyour, Jamal; Miftah, Amal |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine the effect of migrants’ remittances on poverty and inequality. The survey data were collected in Morocco, in the rural areas of the region Souss-Massa-Draa. By applying an original approach, we estimate the counterfactual income of remittance-recipient households corresponding to a hypothetical value of its average income calculated for a scenario without remittances; this is then compared with its current income. We find that the poverty rate and the vulnerability of non-poor households are significantly dropped due to remittances. Our findings also suggest that remittance inflows have increased income inequality compared to the no-migration counterfactual situation. |
| Keywords: | Remittances; Poverty; Income distribution; Morocco. |
| JEL: | F22 F24 I32 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:55686&r=mig |
| By: | Clemens, Michael A.; McKenzie, David |
| Abstract: | Although measured remittances by migrant workers have soared in recent years, macroeconomic studies have difficulty detecting their effect on economic growth. This paper reviews existing explanations for this puzzle and proposes three new ones. First, it offers evidence that a large majority of the recent rise in measured remittances may be illusory -- arising from changes in measurement, not changes in real financial flows. Second, it shows that even if these increases were correctly measured, cross-country regressions would have too little power to detect their effects on growth. Third, it points out that the greatest driver of rising remittances is rising migration, which has an opportunity cost to economic product at the origin. Net of that cost, there is little reason to expect large growth effects of remittances in the origin economy. Migration and remittances clearly have first-order effects on poverty at the origin, on the welfare of migrants and their families, and on global gross domestic product; but detecting their effects on growth of the origin economy is likely to remain elusive. |
| Keywords: | Population Policies,Remittances,Debt Markets,Access to Finance,Currencies and Exchange Rates |
| Date: | 2014–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6856&r=mig |
| By: | Zhang, Haimin |
| Abstract: | There is growing belief in many developed countries, including Canada, that the large influx of the foreign-born population increases crime. Despite the heated public discussion, the immigrant-crime relationship is understudied in the literature. This paper identifies the causal linkages between immigration and crime using panel data constructed from the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey and the master files of the Census of Canada. This paper distinguishes immigrants by their years in Canada and defines three groups: new immigrants, recent immigrants and established immigrants. An instrumental variable strategy based on the historical ethnic distribution is used to correct for the endogenous location choice of immigrants. Two robust patterns emerge. First, new immigrants do not have a significant impact on the property crime rate, but with time spent in Canada, a 10% increase in the recent-immigrant share or established-immigrant share decreases the property crime rate by 2% to 3%. Neither underreporting to police nor the dilution of the criminal pool by the addition of law-abiding immigrants can fully explain the size of the estimates. This suggests that immigration has a spillover effect, such as changing neighbourhood characteristics, which reduces crime rates in the long run. Second, IV estimates are consistently more negative than their OLS counterparts. By not correctly identifying the causal channel, OLS estimation leads to the incorrect conclusion that immigration is associated with higher crime rates. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; Crime |
| JEL: | F22 J15 K42 |
| Date: | 2014–04–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ubc:clssrn:clsrn_admin-2014-20&r=mig |
| By: | Ilhom Abdulloev; Gil S. Epstein (Bar-Ilan University); Ira N. Gang |
| 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:biu:wpaper:2014-03&r=mig |
| By: | Mohamed Khaldi; Abdesselam El Ftouh |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uae:sermed:16&r=mig |