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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Loschman C.; Parsons C.R.; Siegel M. (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | Forced migration, often resulting from violent conflict, imposes large economic costs on both sending and receiving countries, on those agencies that coordinate humanitarian services and most importantly upon the forced migrants themselves. Programmes encouraging the return of refugees are therefore potentially crucial interventions, which can result in all parties benefiting. In this paper, we assess the UNHCR post-return shelter assistance programme in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2011, the country most affected by refugee movements, where no less than one-third of the population is a returnee. Given the infeasibility of randomizing shelter assistance to those repatriated, we implement a variety of matching techniques to insulate our results from selection biases. Adopting a multidimensional approach, our results show that shelter assistance reduces multidimensional poverty by around six percentage points. This reduction in poverty is driven by particular indicators of deprivation including dietary diversity, food security and heating, all of which are shown to fall by five to six percent depending on the matching specification. The former results are particularly encouraging in the context of Afghanistan given the prevalence of chronic malnutrition in the country. |
| Keywords: | International Migration; Measurement and Analysis of Poverty; |
| JEL: | F22 I32 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2014051&r=mig |
| By: | Bilgili Ö.; Siegel M. (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies migrants intentions to return to their origin country by making the distinction between permanent return, temporary return and participation in temporary return programmes. Using survey data from first generation migrants in the Netherlands, we explore how migrants experiences regarding both the origin and destination countries are linked to their return intentions. We show that there are significantly more people interested in temporary return than permanent return. Moreover, we demonstrate that while economic integration has no clear link with return intentions, individuals with a lower socio-cultural integration are more likely to intend to return permanently. We also find that social homeland engagement predicts intentions for all types of return. Considering the potential positive impact of temporary return on development through the transfer of skills, financial resources and experiences, this research provides insight into the profile of migrants who could be the target of programmes and policies on return for development. |
| Keywords: | International Migration; Economics of Minorities, Races, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination; Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration; |
| JEL: | F22 J15 O15 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2014041&r=mig |