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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Hatzigeorgiou, Andreas (Lund University); Lodefalk, Magnus (Örebro University School of Business) |
| Abstract: | This paper takes departure in the unique position taken by Swedish policymakers recently in giving explicit emphasis to migration as a tool for increasing trade. We attempt to put this position to empirical scrutiny. Our results demonstrate that migrants spur exports, especially along the extensive product margin of trade and for differentiated products, but with no significant impact on imports. This suggests that for small open economies with many immigrants being refugees, the aim of using migration to facilitate trade may only be effective with respect to exports. This paper also contributes to the literature on trade and migration by exploiting data on gender and age, which allow us to draw inferences on the underlying impact channels. We adopt an instrumental variable approach to address the endogeneity issue due to potential reverse causality. The pattern of results is consistent with the hypothesis that migration mainly reduces fixed trade costs derived from information and trust friction across migrant host and source countries. Importantly, the results imply that policymakers may be able to promote trade by improving immigrants’ labor market integration rather than being restricted to more liberal immigration policies, which is generally more controversial. |
| Keywords: | Trade; migration; gravity model; trade COSTs; networks; information; trust; trade policy |
| JEL: | F10 F14 F22 |
| Date: | 2014–07–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:oruesi:2014_005&r=mig |
| By: | Zhiling Wang; Thomas de Graaff; Peter Nijkamp (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This study analyses the impact of cultural composition on regional attractiveness from the perspective of migrant sorting behaviour. We use an attitudinal survey to quantify cultural distances between natives and immigrants in the area concerned, and estimate the migrants’ varying preferences for both cultural diversity and cultural distance. To account for regional unobserved heterogeneity, our econometric analysis employs artificial instrumental variables, as developed by Bayer et al. (2004). The main conclusions are twofold. On the one hand, cultural diversity increases regional attractiveness. On the other hand, average cultural distance greatly weakens regional attractiveness, even when the presence of network effect is controlled for. |
| Keywords: | migration, cultural diversity, cultural distance, destination choice, sorting |
| JEL: | R2 Z1 |
| Date: | 2014–06–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20140066&r=mig |
| By: | Francesco Fasani (Queen Mary University of London, CReAM - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Programs aimed at reducing the presence of unauthorised immigrants are often at the core of the migration policy debate in host countries. In recent years, a growing body of empirical literature has attempted to understand the effect of lacking legal status on immigrants' outcomes and behaviour. The main difficulties in this field are the scarcity of data and the identification challenge posed by endogenous selection into legal status. The vast majority of these articles have therefore used amnesty programs (or similar policy changes) to establish causal relationships. In this paper, we propose a first systematic review of the empirical literature for the US and Europe on the impact of legal status on different immigrants' outcomes. We then present some new evidence of the relationship between labour market outcomes and legal status in the Italian context. In our empirical analysis, we first provide some descriptive evidence on differences in the outcomes for groups with different residence statuses, and we then exploit a specific amnesty programme to produce causal estimates of the impact of legal status. Our results confirm previous findings in the literature and show that the design of the specific amnesty analysed matters in shaping its effects. |
| Keywords: | illegal migration, amnesty, migration policy |
| JEL: | F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1439&r=mig |
| By: | Joanna Clifton-Sprigg (The University of Edinburgh) |
| Abstract: | Impacts of parental emigration on educational outcomes of children and, in turn, the children's influence on peers are theoretically ambiguous. Using novel data I collected on migration experiences and timing, family background and school performance of lower secondary pupils in Poland, I analyse empirically whether children with parents working abroad (PWA) influence school performance of their classmates. Migration is mostly temporary in nature, with one parent engaging in employment abroad. As many as 63% of migrant parents have vocational qualifications, 29% graduated from high school, 4% have no qualifications and the remaining 4% graduated from university. Almost 18% of all children are affected by parental migration and, on average, 6.5% of pupils in a class have a parent abroad. Perhaps surprisingly, estimates suggest that pupils benefit from the presence of PWA classmates. PWA pupils whose parents graduated from high school exert the biggest positive impact on their classroom peers. Further, classmates are differently affected by PWA children; those who themselves experienced migration within the family benefit most. This positive effect is likely driven by the student level interactions or increased teachers' commitment to classes with students from migrant families. |
| Keywords: | education of adolescents, migration, peer effects |
| JEL: | F22 I29 J13 O15 |
| Date: | 2014–10–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:edn:esedps:252&r=mig |
| By: | Ilhom Abdulloev (Open Societies Institute, Dushanbe); Ira N. Gang; Myeong-Su Yun |
| Abstract: | Women who want to work often face many more hurdles than men. This is true in Tajikistan where there is a large gender gap in labour force participation. We highlight the role of two factors – international migration and education – on the labour force participation decision and its gender gap. Using probit and decomposition analysis, our investigation shows that education and migration have a significant association with the gender gap in labour force participation in Tajikistan. International emigration from Tajikistan, in which approximately 93.5% of the participants are men, reduces labour force participation by men domestically; increased female education, especially at the university and vocational level, increases female participation. Both women acquiring greater access to education and men increasing their migration abroad contribute to reducing the gender gap. |
| Keywords: | migration, education, gender gap, labour force participation, Tajikistan |
| JEL: | J01 J16 O15 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ost:wpaper:342&r=mig |
| By: | Clémence Berson (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | The integration of immigrants and their children is a burning issue in France. Governments build a large part of their assimilation policies on the labor market. The public sector is reputed to better assimilate minorities because of its entrance exams and pay-scales. In this paper, a comparison of the public and private sectors shows that second-generation immigrants are not treated equally. However, the wage gap is determined by the number and gender of immigrant parents and not by the country of origin. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination, wage gap, public-private sectors, France. |
| JEL: | C35 J31 J45 J71 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:09059r&r=mig |
| By: | Joan Llull |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the effect of immigration on native wages at the national level taking into account the endogenous allocation of immigrants across skill cells. Time-varying exogenous variation across skill cells for a given country is provided by interactions of push factors, distance, and skill cell dummies: distance mitigates the effect of push factors more severely for less educated and middle experienced. Because the analysis focuses on the United States and Canada, I propose a two-stage approach (Sub-Sample 2SLS) that estimates the first stage regression with an augmented sample of destination countries, and the second stage equation with the restricted sub-sample of interest. I derive asymptotic results for this estimator, and suggest several applications beyond the current one. The empirical analysis indicates a substantial bias in estimated OLS wage elasticities to immigration. Sub-Sample 2SLS estimates average – 1:2 and are very stable to the use of alternative instruments. |
| Keywords: | immigration, wages, sub-sample two-stage least squares |
| JEL: | J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:783&r=mig |
| By: | Bandyopadhyay, Subhayu (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis); Pinto, Santiago (Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines illegal immigration in a spatial context. Consider two countries: a source and a host of illegal immigration. Both countries produce the same good employing labor. There are legal restrictions to the movement of labor across countries. The host country consists of two regions (jurisdictions or states). These two regions share their borders with the source country. The host country controls illegal immigration using two alternative policy instruments: (i) it devotes resources to stop illegal immigrants at the border preventing them from entering the country; and (ii) it allocates resources to internal enforcement. Enforcement levels, both internal and border, may a priori differ by regions. The paper compares the provision of enforcement chosen by a federal government in the host country to the levels that would prevail under different allocation of responsibilities between the federal and regional governments in deciding border and internal enforcement levels. |
| Keywords: | illegal immigration; fiscal competition; border enforcement; internal enforcement. |
| JEL: | D72 D78 F21 F23 |
| Date: | 2014–10–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2014-030&r=mig |
| By: | Hisahiro Naito |
| Abstract: | Utilizing changes of Japanese immigration law in 1990s, I study the effect of the infl ow of unskilled immigrants on native's human capital accumulation by applying the difference of differences estimation method. Using 10 percent sample of the Japanese census data, I show that for individual aged 19-20 one percentage point increase of the immigrant-native ratio increased the probability of going to college by 1.3 percentage point for males and 0.8 percentage point for females. Consistently, one percentage point increase of the immigrant-native ratio reduced the probability work by 1.2 percentage point for males and 1.0 percentage point for females. For unemployment, an increase of immigrant ratio did not affect the probability of unemployment for males and decreased it for females. The regression results are robust with respect to several specifications. The results suggest that the in flow of unskilled immigrant increases the human capital accumulation of young natives. |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tsu:tewpjp:2014-006&r=mig |
| By: | Eliasson, Tove (IBF, Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | Earlier research has shown that immigrant- and minority entrepreneurs have difficulties accessing capital through the formal financial markets. This essay studies what role immigrant employees within the local bank sector have for the probability of immigrants to run their own businesses. I use linked employer-employee data covering the whole Swedish labor market for the years 1987 to 2003 and utilize a nationwide refugee dispersal policy to get exogenous variation in the exposure to co-ethnic bank employees. Results suggest that there is a positive relation between co-ethnic bank employees and the probability of being self-employed. This effect is most pronounced for immigrants who arrived with low education, for males and for those residing in metropolitan regions. The effects are substantial and robust to a wide set of controls for labor market characteristics of the ethnic group at the local level. These results provides evidence of an ethnic component in the formal credit markets. |
| Keywords: | Self-employment; immigrant entrepreneurs; capital access; information asymmetry; minority representation |
| JEL: | G21 J71 M13 |
| Date: | 2014–08–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2014_019&r=mig |
| By: | Or Levkovich; Jan Rouwendal (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | In the globalized economy the presence of migrants is essential for urban and regional growth, and it is therefore important to know what makes a city an attractive place for highly skilled migrants. This paper aims to shed light on this issue by considering the location choice of highly-educated foreign workers, and if and how their valuation of urban amenities differs from domestic workers. To do so, we apply a residential location-choice model to estimate the attractiveness of residential locations in the Dutch Randstad for low and high-skilled, domestic and foreign workers, and calculate and compare their willingness to pay for each of these amenities. |
| Keywords: | urban amenities, foreign workers |
| JEL: | R53 R11 |
| Date: | 2014–07–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20140093&r=mig |
| By: | Risse, Mathias (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | The author's 2012 book On Global Justice argues that the standpoint of humanity's collective ownership of the earth should be central to reflection on the permissibility of immigration. This standpoint is defended here. A number of political philosophers (Michael Blake, Christopher Wellman, David Miller and others) have recently offered accounts of immigration that tried to do without the kind of global standpoint provided by humanity's collective ownership of the earth. All these attempts fail, and fail because they do not integrate a global standpoint. It has been objected to the author's account that any given generation should be regarded as inheriting both the natural and the societal wealth of humanity. This standpoint is refuted here. We will also engage with Avery Kolers' intriguing approach to territory in terms of ethnogeographic communities. |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp14-009&r=mig |
| By: | Afful, Efua Amoonua |
| Abstract: | Previous literature indicates that language skills are an important determinant of success in the labor market. Using data from the 2012 American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year sample, this paper shows that there is heterogeneity in the importance of English-speaking ability by gender, race and education. I find that improvement in proficiency generates higher employment benefits for females than males possibly due to the industry distribution of employment by gender. Women and Asians are more likely to be employed at each successively higher level of speaking proficiency with diminishing returns. Enhancement of proficiency increases the odds of employment to a certain degree, beyond which the odds fall for males, Whites, Blacks, other races and individuals with high school education or less. Among individuals with high school education or less, the odds of employment are very low irrespective of level of language proficiency. Individuals with some college but no degree or higher experience consistent increases in odds of employment as English-speaking ability improves. For proficiency in speaking English to yield substantial employment benefits, one must attain moderate to high educational qualifications. |
| Keywords: | Employment, International Labor Mobility, Immigrant Assimilation |
| JEL: | J60 J61 |
| Date: | 2013–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:58767&r=mig |