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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Carletto, Calogero (World Bank); Larrison, Jennica (University of Baltimore); Ozden, Caglar (World Bank) |
| 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: | migration, development, survey design, data collection, data dissemination |
| JEL: | F22 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8745&r=mig |
| By: | Simone BERTOLI (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International); Jesús FERNÁNDEZ-HUERTAS MORAGA |
| Abstract: | The scale of international migration flows depends on moving costs that are, in turn, influenced by host-country policies and by the size of migrant networks at destination. This paper estimates the influence of visa policies and networks upon bilateral migration flows to multiple destinations. We rely on a Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood estimator to derive estimates that are consistent under more general distributional assumptions on the underlying RUM model than the ones commonly adopted in the literature. We derive bounds for the estimated direct and indirect effects of visa policies and networks that reflect the uncertainty connected to the use of aggregate data, and we show that bilateral migration flows can be highly sensitive to the immigration policies set by other destination countries, an externality that we are able to quantify. |
| Keywords: | visa policies, Networks, externalities, international migration, multiple destinations |
| JEL: | J61 O15 F22 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdi:wpaper:1641&r=mig |
| By: | Orrenius, Pia M. (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas); Zavodny, Madeline (Agnes Scott College) |
| Abstract: | The United States currently provides Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to more than 300,000 immigrants from selected countries. TPS is typically granted if dangerous conditions prevail in the home country due to armed conflict or a natural disaster. Individuals with TPS cannot be deported and are allowed to stay and work in the United States temporarily. Despite the increased use of TPS in recent years, little is known about how TPS affects labor market outcomes for beneficiaries, most of whom are unauthorized prior to receiving TPS. This study examines how migrants from El Salvador who are likely to have received TPS fare in the labor market compared with other migrants. The results suggest that TPS eligibility leads to higher employment rates among women and higher earnings among men. The results have implications for recent programs that allow some unauthorized immigrants to receive temporary permission to remain and work in the United States. |
| Keywords: | immigration policy, unauthorized immigration, temporary protected status, TPS |
| JEL: | J15 J31 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8744&r=mig |
| By: | Ho-Po Crystal Wong (West Virginia University, College of Business and Economics) |
| Abstract: | Positive assortative matching in terms of traits like ethnicity, race and personality has been prevalent in marital formation. One possible explanation for this is that husbands and wives in endogamous marriages have complementary skills and tastes that increase marital surplus. This paper aims to estimate the effects of ethnic assortative matching on a variety of household outcomes by using the exogenous variation in immigrant flows in the United States during the period 1900-1930 to disentangle the selection effect of partners. The major finding is that the complementarities in home production from same ethnic marriage enhances investment in household public goods such as childrearing and home ownership and reduces the market labor supply of wives. OLS and Logit estimates of this effect appear to be substantially biased downward, indicating positive selection into intermarriage in terms of unobservable traits that increase marital surplus. |
| Keywords: | endogamous marriage, assortative matching, immigrants, intermarriage, labor supply, children, household public goods |
| JEL: | D13 J12 J13 J15 J16 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wvu:wpaper:14-31&r=mig |
| By: | Fulya Memisoglu |
| Abstract: | Turkey, at the crossroads of Europe, Middle East and Asia, has confronted with mounting pressures of mixed migration flows in recent decades. This paper aims to explore Turkey’s contemporary approach to migration management by focusing on the adoption of the country’s first comprehensive immigration law (Law on Foreigners and International Protection) and the signing of the readmission agreement with the European Union in 2013. This incorporates an analysis of both policy continuities and changes in migration management in Turkey, while also providing an understanding of the interplay between internal and external factors, namely internationalisation and Europeanisation processes and the responsiveness of domestic actors to such pressures. The paper argues that migration policies driven solely by state-centric concerns are becoming increasingly inefficient in responding to the challenges caused by interlinked pressures of globalisation and multi-layered migratory flows. As Turkey’s role as a transit and receiving country grows, issues of international migration, and irregular migration in particular, are becoming dynamic topics in defining its role in a globalised world and as well as the trajectory of its relations with the EU. |
| Keywords: | Turkey; Europeanization |
| Date: | 2014–12–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erp:euirsc:p0419&r=mig |
| By: | Kaiser, Ulrich; Kongsted, Hans Christian; Rønde, Thomas |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of mobility of R&D workers on the total patenting activity of their employers. Our study documents how mobile workers affect the patenting activity of the firm they join and the firm they leave. The effect of labor mobility is strongest if workers join from patent-active firms. We also find evidence of a positive feedback effect on the former employer's patenting from workers who have left for another patent-active firm. Summing up the effects of joining and leaving workers, we show that labor mobility increases the total innovative activity of the new and the old employer. Our study which is based on the population of R&D active Danish firms observed between 1999 and 2004 thus provides firm-level support for the notion that labor mobility stimulates overall innovation of a country or region due to knowledge transfer. |
| Keywords: | labor mobility,innovation,research and development,patenting |
| JEL: | J62 C26 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:14115&r=mig |
| By: | Paul, Saumik; Ouyang, Alice; Li, Rachel Cho Suet |
| Abstract: | In this paper we build a theoretical model on the wage effect of skilled emigration to the fluctuations in real exchange rate through the relative prices of nontradables. Our theoretical model predicts that skilled emigration is associated with an increase in the prices of nontradable, which in turn appreciates the exchange rate. We provide robust empirical support to a higher skilled emigration associated with higher prices in nontradables and appreciation of the real effective exchange rate. Based on two samples of countries with 51 and 67 observations, in 1990 and 2000 respectively, we find robust empirical support to a higher skilled emigration associated with higher prices in nontradables and appreciation of the REER. In addition, the support for the remittance-channel of the Dutch disease is also significant; overall, our findings corroborate the remittance-based Dutch disease phenomenon by providing an additional channel through which the labor mobility across borders affects the real exchange rate volatility. |
| Keywords: | Migrant labor, Wages, Emigrant remittances, Foreign exchange, International finance, Migration, Emigration, Exchange Rate, The Dutch Disease |
| JEL: | F22 F3 J3 F24 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper484&r=mig |
| By: | Ballatore, Rosario Maria (Bank of Italy); Fort, Margherita (University of Bologna); Ichino, Andrea (European University Institute) |
| Abstract: | We exploit rules of class formation to identify the causal effect of increasing the number of immigrants in a classroom on natives test scores, keeping class size constant (Pure Composition Effect). We explain why this is a relevant policy parameter although it has been neglected so far. We show that the PCE is sizeable and negative at age 7 (-1.6% for language and math) and does not vanish when children grow up to age 10. Conventional estimates are instead smaller because they are confounded by endogenous class size adjustments implemented by principals when confronted with immigrant and native inflows. |
| Keywords: | education, immigration, integration |
| JEL: | C36 I20 I24 J15 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8732&r=mig |
| By: | Andrén, Daniela (Örebro University); Roman, Monica (Bucharest University of Economic Studies) |
| Abstract: | The change in Romanian political regime in 1989 has lifted the barriers for population circulation and mobility that were further more amplified in 2002 by the liberalization of Romanians' circulation in the Schengen space. In such context, the aim of this paper is to analyze to what extent Romania's accession to the EU in 2007 has added new features to the Romanian migration phenomenon. Therefore, the paper describes characteristics of Romanian labor migration and its labor market outcomes in the context of the EU second enlargement, covering the recent trends and characteristics, as well as the effects on the receiving and origin countries. The restructuring process that accompanied a painful economic transition created severe disequilibria on the labor market, generating a crisis that remains ongoing. From this perspective, migration was and still is the population's response to this crisis and at the same time reduces the unemployment pressure on the Romanian government. Furthermore, in the new context of financial European crisis, the migration outflows didn't reverse and most migrants prefer to develop adjustment strategies in their destination countries. Romania's accession to the EU in 2007 did not generally change the previous characteristics of Romanian migration. However, one of the key features of Romanian migration would be the new wave of the labor mobility of professionals with impacts upon Romanian economy and society. |
| Keywords: | EU eastern enlargement, Romania, international migration, transition, Great Recession |
| JEL: | F22 F24 J15 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8690&r=mig |
| By: | Kristina Meier |
| Abstract: | It is often assumed that international labor migration from Tajikistan, while having no noticeable effects on investment (usually defined as medium and long-term consumption, such as education, or investment into housing or business), on average leads to an increase in short-term consumption, mostly food. In this paper, a simple household-level model determining the migration decision is developed and tested empirically. In a second step, the effect of low-skilled labor migration on household expenditure shares is analyzed using 2SLS. While only weak effects of migration measured by a simple dummy are visible, repeating the analysis using the length of the migration spell instead, as well as its squared term, reveals that labor migration apparently takes a while to "kick in" and become profitable to those remaining at home. The observed long-term effects on household consumption patterns, albeit being rather small, actually speak in favour of investment of remittances, with the respective shares increasing over time, while the budget share spent on food slowly decreases. |
| Keywords: | labor migration, remittances, consumption shares, Tajikistan |
| JEL: | J61 F22 I31 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1433&r=mig |
| By: | Assaf Razin; Efraim Sadka; Benjarong Suwankiri |
| Abstract: | We develop a dynamic political-economic theory of welfare state and immigration policies, featuring three distinct voting groups: skilled workers, unskilled workers, and old retirees. The essence of inter- and intra-generational redistribution of a typical welfare system is captured with a proportional tax on labor income to finance a transfer in a balanced-budget manner. We characterize political-economic equilibrium policy rules consisting of the tax rate, the skill composition of migrants, and the total number of migrants. When none of these groups enjoy a majority (50 percent of the voters or more), political coalitions will form. With overlapping generations and policy-determined influx of immigrants, the formation of the political coalitions changes over time. These future changes are taken into account when policies are shaped. The paper characterizes the evolution of the political coalitions that implement welfare state and migration policies. |
| JEL: | F22 H0 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20806&r=mig |
| By: | Catia Batista; Tara McIndoe-Calder; Pedro C. Vicente |
| Abstract: | Does return migration affect entrepreneurship? This question has important implications for the debate on the economic development effects of migration for origin countries. The existing literature has, however, not addressed how the estimation of the impact of return migration on entrepreneurship is affected by double unobservable migrant self-selection, both at the initial outward migration and at the final inward return migration stages. This paper uses a representative household survey conducted in Mozambique in order to address this research question. We exploit variation provided by displacement caused by civil war in Mozambique, as well as social unrest and other shocks in migrant destination countries. The results lend support to negative unobservable self-selection at both and each of the initial and return stages of migration, which results in an under-estimation of the effects of return migration on entrepreneurial outcomes when using a ‘naïve’ estimator not controlling for self-selection. Indeed, ‘naïve’ estimates point to a 13 pp increase in the probability of owning a business when there is a return migrant in the household relative to non-migrants only, whereas excluding the double effect of unobservable self-selection, this effect becomes significantly larger - between 24 pp and 29 pp, depending on the method of estimation and source of variation used. JEL codes: F22, L26, O15 |
| Keywords: | international migration, return migration, entrepreneurship, selfselection, business ownership, migration effects in origin countries, household survey, Mozambique, sub-Saharan Africa |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:novafr:wp1401&r=mig |
| By: | Artuc, Erhan (World Bank); Docquier, Frédéric (Université catholique de Louvain); Ozden, Caglar (World Bank); Parsons, Christopher (University of Oxford) |
| Abstract: | Discussions of high-skilled mobility typically evoke migration patterns from poorer to wealthier countries, which ignore movements to and between developing countries. This paper presents, for the first time, a global overview of human capital mobility through bilateral migration stocks by gender and education in 1990 and 2000, and calculation of nuanced brain drain indicators. Building on newly collated data, the paper uses a novel estimation procedure based on a pseudo-gravity model, then identifies key determinants of international migration, and subsequently uses estimated parameters to impute missing data. Non-OECD destinations account for one-third of skilled-migration, while OECD destinations are declining in relative importance. |
| Keywords: | international migration, labor mobility, brain drain, migration data, population censuses |
| JEL: | F22 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8746&r=mig |
| By: | Zaiceva, Anzelika (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia); Zimmermann, Klaus F. (IZA and University of Bonn) |
| Abstract: | This chapter connects population aging with international migration. After documenting the trends for both, we review the supply-push and demand-pull determinants of migration, focusing particularly on the role of age and aging. We subsequently discuss the literature concerning the implications of migration in the context of aging for labor markets, health and public budgets including the political economy context. Although immigration is sometimes suggested as a solution for the aging problem, the existing academic literature from different fields is more cautious about its role and potential. While large-scale selective immigration might contribute to alleviating demographic pressures, it is unlikely that immigration will increase to the unrealistically large numbers needed. |
| Keywords: | aging, migration, demographic pressures, elderly migration, attitudes towards migration, political economy of immigration |
| JEL: | F22 J11 J14 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8743&r=mig |
| By: | Budría, Santiago (University of Madeira); Swedberg, Pablo (St. Louis University) |
| Abstract: | This article uses micro-data from the Spanish National Immigrant Survey to analyze the acquisition of Spanish language skills for immigrants in Spain. The motivation of the paper is threefold. Language skills are important for an individual's labour market performance, Spain offers an important non-English speaking country instance and the main novelty of our paper is to explore the impact of speaking multiple foreign languages on host language learning for immigrants. The results reveal a strong positive association between multilingualism and the probability of reporting good or very good Spanish language proficiency for immigrants in Spain. |
| Keywords: | immigration, language proficiency, education |
| JEL: | J15 J24 J61 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8748&r=mig |