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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Fairlie, Robert |
| Abstract: | Using 1990 Census microdata, we explore ethnic, racial and immigrant differences in private school attendance. We find high rates of private school attendance among white natives, white immigrants, and Asian natives. In contrast, we find low private school rates among black and Hispanic natives and immigrants, Asian immigrants, and other natives. Variations in income per capita and especially parental education account for over 70% of the gap in private school attendance rates between white natives and all other groups. We discuss ramifications for racial, language, and socioeconomic segregation in America's schools, and possible effects of school vouchers on segregation. |
| Keywords: | Education, Social and Behavioral Sciences, education, private school, race, minorities, immigration, inequality |
| Date: | 2014–09–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:ucscec:qt22q5w7dq&r=mig |
| By: | Simone BERTOLI (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS : UMR6587 - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I); Vianney Dequiedt (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS : UMR6587 - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I); Yves Zenou (Stockholm University - Stockholm University - Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | Destination countries have been resorting to selective immigration policies to improve migrants' quality. We propose a model that analyzes the effects of selective immigration policies on migrants' quality, measured by their wages at destination. Screening potential migrants on the basis of observable characteristics also influences their self-selection on unobservables that influences their wages. We show that the prevailing pattern of selection on unobservables influences the effect of an increase in selectivity, which can reduce migrants' quality when migrants are positively self-selected. |
| Keywords: | selective policies; self-selection; migrants' quality |
| Date: | 2014–09–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01067461&r=mig |
| By: | Davide Gandolfi (Macalester College); Timothy Halliday (University of Hawaii at Manoa and UH Economic Research Organization); Raymond Robertson (Macalester College) |
| Abstract: | Large wage differences between countries ("place premiums") are well documented. Neoclassical trade theory suggests that factor price convergence should follow increased commercial integration. Rising commercial integration, foreign direct investment, and migration followed the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Mexico. This paper evaluates the degree of wage convergence between Mexico and the United States between 1988 and 2011. We match survey and census data from Mexico and the US to estimate the change in wage differentials for observationally identical workers over time. We find no evidence of long-run wage convergence among cohorts characterized by low migration propensities although this was, in part, due to large macroeconomic shocks. On the other hand, we do find some evidence of convergence for workers with high migration propensities. Finally, we find evidence of convergence in the border of Mexico vis-Ã -vis its interior in the 1990s but this was reversed in the 2000s. We conclude that the place premium is largely stable, even following large reductions to trade and investment barriers and high migration. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Labor-market Integration, Factor Price Equalization |
| JEL: | F15 F16 J31 F22 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hai:wpaper:201425&r=mig |
| By: | Hisahiro Naito (Department of Economics, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences,University of Tsukuba,) |
| Abstract: | The effect of accepting more immigrants on welfare in the presence of a pay-as-you- go social security system is analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. First, it is shown that if initially there exist intergenerational government transfers from the young to the old, the government can lead an economy to the (modified) golden rule level within a finite time in a Pareto-improving way by increasing the percentage of immigrants to natives (PITN). Second, using the computational overlapping generation model, the welfare gain is calculated of increasing the PITN from 15.5 percent to 25.5 percent and years needed to reach the (modified) golden rule level in a Pareto-improving way in a model economy. The simulation shows that the present value of the welfare gain of increasing the PITN comprises 23 percent of the initial GDP. It takes 112 years for the model economy to reach the golden rule level in a Pareto-improving way. |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upd:utppwp:027&r=mig |
| By: | David McKenzie (The world bank); Dean Young (University of Michigan) |
| Abstract: | International migration offers individuals and their families the potential to experience immediate and large gains in their incomes, and offers a large number of other positive benefits to the sending communities and countries. However, there are also concerns about potential costs of migration, including concerns about trafficking and human rights, a desire for remittances to be used more effectively, and concerns about externalities from skilled workers being lost. As a result there is increasing interest in policies which can enhance the development benefits of international migration and mitigate these potential costs. We provide a critical review of recent research on the effectiveness of these policies at three stages of the migration process: pre-departure, during migration, and directed towards possible return. The existing evidence base suggests some areas of policy success: bilateral migration agreements for countries whose workers have few other migration options, developing new savings and remittance products that allow migrants more control over how their money is used, and some efforts to provide financial education to migrants and their families. Suggestive evidence together with theory offers support for a number of other policies, such as lowering the cost of remittances, reducing passport costs, offering dual citizenship, and removing exit barriers to migration. Research offers reasons to be cautious about some policies such as enforcing strong rights for migrants like high minimum wages. Nevertheless, we find the evidence base to be weak for many policies, with no reliable research on the impact of most return migration programs, nor for whether countries should be trying to induce communal remitting through matching funds. |
| Keywords: | Migration Policy, Remittances, Return Migration, Impact Evaluation |
| JEL: | O15 F22 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1438&r=mig |
| By: | Johannes S. Kunz |
| Abstract: | In this study, I provide evidence that the educational achievement of second-generation immigrants in German-speaking Switzerland is greater than in Germany. The impact of the first-generation immigrants' destination decision on their offspring's educational achievement seems to be much more important than has been recognized by the existing literature. I identify the test score gap between these students that cannot be explained by differences in individual and family characteristics. Moreover, I show how this gap evolves over the test score distribution and how the least favorably-endowed students fare. My results suggest that the educational system of Switzerland, relative to the German system, enhances the performance of immigrants' children substantially. This disparity is largest when conditioning on the language spoken at home, and prevails even when comparing only students whose parents migrated from the same country of origin. |
| Keywords: | Immigrant comparison, educational achievement decomposition, Germany and Switzerland |
| JEL: | I21 I24 J15 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:174&r=mig |
| By: | Eisele, Katharina |
| Abstract: | Labour immigration schemes that effectively attract qualified immigrant workers are a policy priority for many governments. But what are ‘attractive’ labour immigration schemes and policies? To whom are (or should) such policies (be) attractive? In Europe, the US is often portrayed as one of the most ‘attractive’ countries of immigration – if not the most ‘attractive’. This paper aims to analyse and provide a better understanding of the elements of the US immigration system that are supposedly attractive to foreign workers, by examining key features of the current and prospective US labour immigration rules. The paper finds that ‘attractiveness’ in this policy context is a highly malleable and flexible concept: What might be ‘attractive’ to one key stakeholder might not be to another. |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eps:cepswp:9642&r=mig |
| By: | Jan Brzozowski (Cracow University of Economics, Department of European Studies); Marco Cucculelli (Universit… Politecnica delle Marche, Dipartimento di Scienze economiche e sociali); Aleksander Surdej (Cracow University of Economics, Department of European Studies) |
| Abstract: | This study contributes to the recent empirical literature on the performance of transnational immigrants' firms by investigating the effect of transnational ties on the firm's growth. In addition to the effect of the ties, the paper shows that home-country's institutional and socio-economic characteristics and country-specific entrepreneurial factors have a crucial role in shaping the ties-performance relationship. The evidence from a sample of immigrantowned firms in the Italian ICT sector in the period 2000-2010 confirmed the relevance of the proposed model and helped in understanding a potential channel of improvements in immigrant firms' performance through transnational ties. Our results show the limited relevance of a direct, or linear, impact of ties on the growth of sales in immigrant-run firms in the ICT sector, whereas supports the crucial moderating role of home country characteristics on the ties-performance relationship. |
| Keywords: | ICT industry, Italy, ethnic business ties, immigrants' firms' performance, transnational entrepreneurship |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:anc:wmofir:98&r=mig |