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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Constant, Amelie F. (George Washington University, Temple University) |
| Abstract: | Immigrants do not fare as well as natives in economic terms; even after including many controls, an unexplained part remains. The ethnic identity entered the field of labor and migration economics in an effort to better explain the economic outcomes of immigrants, their behavior and their often perceived as irrational and suboptimal choices. Quantifying ethnic identity is a major issue; even more challenging is to measure its impact on economic outcomes such as the probability to work or the earnings of immigrants. The thin but burgeoning theoretical and empirical literature shows that ethnic identity has a significant impact on the economic behavior of immigrants. |
| Keywords: | assimilation, discrimination, employment, ethnic identity, ethnicity, human capital, identity, immigration, informal networks, labor force participation, labor markets, integration, marginalization, national identity, oppositional identity, separation, wages, work |
| JEL: | F22 J15 Z10 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8571&r=mig |
| By: | Adsera, Alicia (Princeton University); Ferrer, Ana (University of Waterloo) |
| Abstract: | We use the confidential files of the 1991-2006 Canadian Census, combined with information from O*NET on the skill requirements of jobs, to explore whether Canadian immigrant women behave as secondary workers, remaining marginally attached to the labour market and experiencing little career progression over time. Our results show that the labor market patterns of female immigrants to Canada do not fit the profile of secondary workers, but rather conform to patterns recently exhibited by married native women elsewhere, with rising participation (and wage assimilation). At best, only relatively uneducated immigrant women in unskilled occupations may fit the profile of secondary workers, with slow skill mobility and low-status job-traps. Educated immigrant women, on the other hand, experience skill assimilation over time: a reduction in physical strength and an increase in analytical skills required in their jobs relative to those of natives. |
| Keywords: | skill assimilation, labour market outcomes of immigrant women, wage gaps, female labor force participation, Canadian migration |
| JEL: | J01 J61 F22 |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8407&r=mig |
| By: | Fasani, Francesco (Queen Mary, University of London) |
| 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:iza:izadps:dp8576&r=mig |
| By: | Ayse Guveli (University of Essex); Harry Ganzeboom (Free University Amsterdam); Helen Baykara-Krumme (Chemnitz University of Technology); Lucinda Platt (London School of Economics and Political Science); Şebnem Eroğlu (University Bristol); Niels Spierings (Radboud University Nijmegen); Sait Bayrakdar (University of Essex); Efe K Sozeri (Free University Amsterdam); Bernhard Nauck (Chemnitz University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Despite extensive recent advances in the empirical and theoretical study of migration, certain critical areas in the analysis of European migration remain relatively underdeveloped both theoretically and empirically. Specifically, we lack studies that both incorporate an origin comparison and trace processes of intergenerational transmission across migrants over multiple generations and incorporating family migration trajectories. This paper outlines the development, data and design of such a study, the 2000 Families study, framed within a theoretical perspective of ‘dissimilation’ from origins and over generations. We term the study an origins-of-migration study, in that it captures the country of origin, the family origins and potentially the originating causes of migration processes and outcomes. The resulting data comprised nearly 2,000 migrant and non-migrant Turkish families with members across three or more generations, covering. 50,000 individuals. We reflect on the potential of this study for migration research. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Europe, Turkey, dissimilation, intergenerational transmission, originsof- migration study |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nor:wpaper:2014007&r=mig |
| By: | Francesco Fasani (Queen Mary University of London, CReAM 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:qmw:qmwecw:wp733&r=mig |
| By: | Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina (San Diego State University); Pozo, Susan (Western Michigan University) |
| Abstract: | Over the past decade, a number of federal and state policies intended to stem the flow of illegal immigration have been implemented. In this paper, we focus on two initiatives: (a) Operation Streamline, as an example of increased border enforcement by the federal government, and (b) state-level omnibus immigration laws, as an illustration of enhanced interior enforcement by state governments. We investigate whether these policies have reduced the intentions of deported immigrants to attempt a new unauthorized crossing. While state-level omnibus immigration laws reduce the proportion of deportees intending to attempt a new crossing, increased border enforcement has proven to be far less effective. In addition, we ascertain human costs associated with these policies. Our findings are mixed in this regard. Noteworthy is how the adoption of more stringent interior enforcement seems to result in a "herding" or "ganging-up" effect whereby the incidence of verbal and physical abuse rises with the number of states enacting such measures. Additionally, our estimates suggest that deportees are more likely to respond that they have risked their lives to cross into the United States as a result of enhanced border enforcement. |
| Keywords: | deportation, interior enforcement, border enforcement, treatment of deportees, re-migration intentions |
| JEL: | F22 K42 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8458&r=mig |
| By: | Barrett, Alan (ESRI, Dublin); Bergin, Adele (ESRI, Dublin); Kelly, Elish (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin); McGuinness, Seamus (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin) |
| Abstract: | The economic collapse was more severe in Ireland relative to elsewhere. Many questions have arisen concerning the impacts of the collapse, including the impacts on immigrants and their subsequent reactions. Previous research shows that immigrant employment contracted sharply over the recession, thereby suggesting reduced demand for immigrant labour. In this paper, we ask whether immigrants' earnings also fell, relative to natives. Although the raw data shows a widening of the immigrant/native pay gap, when we control for relevant characteristics the adjusted wage gap narrows. A decomposition analysis shows that most of the change in the raw wage gap is generated by the changing composition of the immigrants who were employed. |
| Keywords: | recession, immigrant earnings, Ireland |
| JEL: | J61 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8459&r=mig |
| By: | Scoppa, Vincenzo (University of Calabria); Stranges, Manuela (University of Calabria) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the role of culture in explaining economic outcomes at individual level analyzing how cultural values from the home country affect the decision to work of immigrants in Italy, using the National Survey of Households with Immigrants. Following the “epidemiological approach”, we relate the probability of being employed in Italy for immigrant women with the female labor force participation (LFP) in their country of origin, taken as a proxy of cultural heritage and gender role model. Controlling for a number of individual and household characteristics, we show that participation in the labor market is affected both by the culture of females' and by their husband's origin countries. We also show that the relationship between own decisions in the host country and home country LFP cannot be attributed to human capital quality or discrimination and it turns out to be stronger for immigrants that maintained more intense ties with their origin countries. Finally, we investigate to what extent cultural influence is driven by religious beliefs: we find that religion is a key determinant of differences in female labor decisions, but, besides religion, other cultural values exert additional influence. |
| Keywords: | culture, immigration, labor force participation, epidemiological approach, gender, Italy |
| JEL: | Z10 Z13 J10 J15 J16 J20 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8522&r=mig |
| By: | Isphording, Ingo E. (IZA) |
| Abstract: | This article summarizes three different strands of the literature that address the labor market effects of language-related human capital. (1) A general importance is demonstrated in the empirical evidence on earnings and employment effects of literacy as the ability to productively use written information. Significant effects are found for developed and developing countries, leading on an aggregated macro level to a positive relationship between literacy and economic development. (2) The ongoing globalization leads to an increased demand for foreign language proficiency to reduce search and information costs and overcome cultural barriers in the trade of services and goods and tourism. Against the background of scarce skill supply, employers are willing to pay significant wage premia, especially for global and local lingua franca. (3) For international migrants, destination language skills display both a prerequisite for and outcome of successful integration. Investments into destination language skills are highly rewarded by wage returns and higher employment probabilities and act as the medium of translation to apply pre-migration human capital in the destination country labor market. |
| Keywords: | language, literacy, human capital, returns, productivity, wage formation, foreign languages, immigration, integration, assimilation, linguistic barriers, linguistic distance |
| JEL: | J24 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8572&r=mig |
| By: | Davide Azzolini (FBK-IRVAPP); Raffaele Guetto (University of Trento) |
| Abstract: | Taking up an assimilation hypothesis, the growth of mixed-nativity marriages documented in many developed countries is often regarded as an indicator of immigrants' integration in the receiving societies. We contend that an alternative theoretical approach could enrich our understanding of the complex link between integration (or, assimilation) and intermarriages. Precisely, we build on theories on assortative mating to investigate the salience of status exchange in the formation of mixed-nativity unions in Italy. The country is a new destination of international migration characterised by particularly poor immigrants' socioeconomic integration. In line with recent empirical evidence emerging from other countries, like Australia, the US and Spain, we provide sound evidence in support of the status exchange hypothesis in Italy. Exploiting Italian Labor Force Survey data and unique register microdata on marriages, we find mixed-nativity marriages to be more likely when less educated older men marry better educated younger women, especially when the latter originate from non-Western countries. Foreign women are also more likely to marry an Italian man if they are not employed. These patterns become more similar when women possess the Italian citizenship at the moment of marriage, confirming the salience of status exchange when immigrants' integration is low. |
| Keywords: | Assimilation, Integration, Mixed-nativity marriages |
| JEL: | J12 F22 I24 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fbk:wpaper:2014-03&r=mig |
| By: | Bönke, Timm; Neidhöfer, Guido |
| Abstract: | We investigate the hypothesis of failed integration and low social mobility of immigrants. For this purpose, an intergenerational assimilation model is tested empirically on household survey data and validated against administrative data provided by the Italian Embassy in Germany. In line with previous studies, we confirm substantial inequality of educational achievements between immigrants and natives. However, we find that the children of Italian immigrants exhibit fairly high intergenerational mobility. Furthermore, holding parental education constant, Italian second generation immigrants show no less opportunities than natives to achieve high schooling degrees. These findings suggest a rejection of the failed integration hypothesis. |
| Keywords: | intergenerational mobility,education,integration and assimilation of immigrants |
| JEL: | I24 J61 J62 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fubsbe:201421&r=mig |
| By: | Ingrid Dallmann (Analyse des Dynamiques Industrielles et Sociales (ADIS) - Université Paris-Sud); Katrin Millock (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne, EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris) |
| Abstract: | We match migration data from the Indian census with climate data to test the hypothesis of climate variability as a push factor for internal migration. The main contribution of the analysis is to introduce relevant meteorological indicators of climate variability, based on the standardized precipitation index. Gravity-type estimations derived from a utility maximization approach cannot reject the null hypothesis that the frequency of drought acts as a push factor on inter-state migration in India. The effect is significant for both male and female migration rates. Drought duration and magnitude as well as flood events are never statistically significant. |
| Keywords: | Climate change; India; internal migration; PPML, SPI |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00825807&r=mig |
| By: | Carletto, Calogero; Larrison, Jennica; Ozden, Caglar |
| Abstract: | Researchers in many fields, such as demography, economics, and sociology, have established various data collection methodologies and principles to answer a range of academic and policy questions on migration. Although the progress has been impressive, some basic challenges remain. This paper addresses some basic, yet fundamental, questions on identification of international migrants and how their various demographic, personal, and human capital characteristics are captured via different data sources. The critical issues are the construction of proper sampling frames in censuses, registers, and surveys and the design of questionnaires in household, labor market, and other relevant surveys. The paper discusses how these data sources can be used to answer policy questions in areas such as labor markets, education, or poverty. The focus is on how some of the existing shortcomings in availability, quality, and relevance of migration data can be overcome via improvements in data collection methods. |
| Keywords: | Population Policies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Voluntary and Involuntary Resettlement,Human Migrations&Resettlements,Banks&Banking Reform |
| Date: | 2014–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7082&r=mig |
| By: | Cai, Ruohong |
| Abstract: | Future climate change will likely to increase the frequency and severity of droughts in many regions of the U.S., especially in the southwestern states, thus further will reduce the water supply in those states. On the water demand side, the population of the U.S. also moves to the southwestern states (both domestic and international migrants). Coupling the projections of water supply and demand, we generate the relative water stress index for the contiguous U.S. counties for the years 2020, 2030, 2040, and 2050. We find a worsening water stress situation, especially in the western U.S. Meanwhile, we find that some metropolitan areas in the east may also have severe water stress despite good water supply. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, water supply and demand, human migration, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2014–05–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea14:170383&r=mig |
| By: | Kentaro Nakajima (Graduate School of Economics, Tohoku University); Ryosuke Okamoto (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies) |
| Abstract: | Observed spatial wage disparities reflect not only disparities in regional productivity but also an uneven geographical distribution of heterogeneous worker skills. We measure spatial skill disparities in Japan and evaluate how migration contributes to these disparities. For this purpose, we regress the individual wage on the residential region dummy variables and a series of individual characteristics to decompose the wage into regional productivity and the workers’ skills. The estimation illustrates that by removing the skill heterogeneities, the productivity disparity is approximately half of the observed wage disparity. Workers living in metropolitan areas have 9.7% higher skills than those in nonmetropolitan areas on average. The spatial skill disparity that stems from individuals’ hometowns is approximately 4.2%. Hence, migration increases the spatial skill disparity from 4.2% to 9.7%, which is an increase of 5.5 percentage points. Furthermore, we investigate migration effects in terms of the workers’ characteristics and find that most sorting effects of migration come from highly educated and regularly employed male workers. |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ngi:dpaper:14-19&r=mig |
| By: | Hans G. Bloemen (VU University Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | We empirically analyze the language proficiency of migrants in the Netherlands. Traditionally, the emphasis in studying language proficiency and economic outcomes has been on the relation between earnings and indicators for language proficiency, motivated by the human capital theory. Here we analyze whether there is a relation between proficiency of the destination language and job level. A lack of language skills may induce the migrant to work in jobs of a lower level leading to lower job satisfaction. We use subjective survey information about job satisfaction and the fit between the migrant's education and skill level and the job. We also use objective information on professional level. Our estimation strategy allows for unobservable correlations between language proficiency and labour market outcomes by employing a simultaneous two equations framework which also exploits the panel nature of our data, by allowing for time persistent random effects. We use a variety of different instrumental variables, some of which are related to linguistic distance, to shed light on the robustness of the results. For men, we find evidence for a positive relationship between indicators for language proficiency and satisfaction with work type and professional level. For women, no impact of language proficiency on the level of the job can be found. Rather, women with lower proficiency levels are not selected into employment in the first place. |
| Keywords: | Skills; Occupational choice; Economics of Immigrants; Panel data models |
| JEL: | J15 J24 C33 |
| Date: | 2014–11–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20140148&r=mig |
| By: | Waidler J.; Hagen-Zanker J.S.; Gassmann F.; Siegel M. (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | Do remittances and social assistance have different impacts on household expenditure patterns While two separate strands of literature have looked at how social assistance or remittances have been spent, few studies have compared them directly. Using data from a nationally representative household survey conducted in Moldova in 2011, this paper assesses the impact both types of transfers have on household expenditure patterns. Contrary to the common assumption that money is fungible, we find that social assistance and remittances have different impacts on expenditure patterns having controlled for potential endogeneity. This research highlights that income source matters and that different incomes may have different poverty impacts. In our sample, the two types of transfers are received by different, but to some extent overlapping population groups. The fact that the two transfers are spent in different ways means that, to some extent, social assistance and remittances are complements rather than substitutes. |
| Keywords: | Macroeconomics: Consumption; Saving; Wealth; International Migration; Remittances; National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: General; Measurement and Analysis of Poverty; Welfare and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs; Demographic Economics: Public Policy; |
| JEL: | F22 F24 J18 I32 I38 E21 H50 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2014072&r=mig |
| By: | Claire L. Adida (Department of Political Science, University of California San Diego - University of San Diego); David D. Laitin (Department of Political Science, Stanford University - Stanford University); Marie-Anne Valfort (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the assimilation patterns of Muslim immigrants in Western countries with a unique identification strategy. Survey and experimental data collected in France in 2009 suggest that Muslims and rooted French are locked in a sub-optimal equilib- rium whereby (i) rooted French exhibit taste-based discrimination against those they are able to identify as Muslims and (ii) Muslims perceive French institutions as system- atically discriminatory against them. This equilibrium is sustained because Muslims, perceiving discrimination as institutionalized, are reluctant to assimilate and rooted French, who are able to identify Muslims as such due to their lower assimilation, reveal their distaste for Muslims. |
| Keywords: | Assimilation, Muslim and Christian immigrants, Discrimination, France |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00977076&r=mig |
| By: | Richard B. Freeman |
| Abstract: | Globalization of scientific and technological knowledge has reduced the US share of world scientific activity; increased the foreign-born proportion of scientists and engineers in US universities and in the US labor market; and led to greater US scientific collaborations with other countries. China's massive investments in university education and R&D has in particular made it a special partner for the US in scientific work. These developments have substantial implications for US science and technology policy. This paper discusses several policies that U.S. policy makers might consider in responding to the changing global world of science and technology. These include aligning immigration policies more closely to the influx of international students; granting fellowships to students working on turning scientific and technological advances into commercial innovations; and requiring firms with R&D tax credits or other government R&D funding to develop "impact plans" to use their new knowledge to produce innovative products or processes. |
| JEL: | F22 I25 O15 O33 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20521&r=mig |
| By: | Winters, John V. (Oklahoma State University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effects of foreign- and native-born STEM graduates and non-STEM graduates on patent intensity in U.S. metropolitan areas. I find that both native and foreign-born STEM graduates significantly increase metropolitan area patent intensity, but college graduates in non-STEM fields have a smaller and statistically insignificant effect on patenting. These findings hold for both cross-sectional OLS and 2SLS regressions. I also use time-differenced 2SLS regressions to estimate the effects of STEM-driven increases in native and foreign college graduate shares and again find that both native and foreign STEM graduates have statistically significant and economically large effects on innovation. Together these results suggest that policies that increase the stocks of both foreign and native STEM graduates increase innovation and provide considerable economic benefits to regions and nations. |
| Keywords: | STEM, innovation, patents, human capital, higher education |
| JEL: | I25 J24 J61 O31 R12 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8575&r=mig |
| By: | Maria Elo (Turku School of Economics, University of Turku & ZenTra) |
| Abstract: | Many underlying developments of globalization should be investigated. Diaspora networks represent an invisible actor in international business (IB), and embody a channel and arena for transnational entrepreneurship (TE). Thus, understanding the development of contemporary diaspora networks and exploring their business potential is important. These networks impact multiple aspects of economic activity, such as investment, entrepreneurship, innovation, expansion, internationalization and creation of international businesses. Despite the multifaceted influence of diaspora networks, little empirical research on their effects has been conducted. This gap may originate in the lack of theoretical and conceptual rigor. In short, the term “diaspora network” remains to be fully discovered in international business. This paper contributes to the literature by increasing the understanding of diaspora networks by reviewing the current literature. The purpose is to enrich the conceptual and theoretical development of IB and TE by connecting them to the emerging field of diaspora entrepreneurship. The paper discusses diaspora networks, illustrates extant theories and research findings, and suggests issues for further research. |
| Keywords: | Diaspora networks, review, international business, international entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | F22 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zen:wpaper:40&r=mig |