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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Tonkobayeva, Aliya |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Development, |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ugidic:189909&r=mig |
| By: | Ferro, Gabrielle; Grogan, Kelly A. |
| Abstract: | The disbursement of welfare benefits at the state level and the perceived race to the bottom due to welfare based migration are a growing policy concern. At the federal level, any household whose income falls at or below 130% of the poverty line after allowable deductions qualifies for SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. However, the program is administered by states, and states can make it easier for households to obtain benefits by lowering the qualification level. This paper analyzes how variation in minimum requirements and benefit levels in different states affects migration between states and uses a probit model to predict the probability that an individual migrates to a new state. In the current economic situation, policies that affect monetary outflow are important to consider. If individuals are moving between states to obtain higher food assistance benefits, then states have an incentive to work against this process by increasing eligibility requirements or implementing penalties for migration. We find that individuals are more likely to migrate to states with easier requirements and lower poverty levels. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Welfare, SNAP, Spatial Variation, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea14:162541&r=mig |
| By: | Lee, Yu Na |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between household risk preferences towards agricultural commodity prices and out-migration from rural households using the Ethiopian Rural Households Survey (ERHS). Based on panel regression results with district fixed effects, household willingness-to-pay to stabilize the prices of seven major agricultural commodities has a significant and positive impact on out-migration in Ethiopian rural households. The paper also finds that higher volatility of coffee and maize prices have a significant relationship with out-migration of net sellers selling coffee and maize. |
| Keywords: | price risk, risk and uncertainty, development, migration, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, International Development, Risk and Uncertainty, O1, D1, D8, Q12, |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205812&r=mig |
| By: | Assaf Razin (tel aviv university) |
| Abstract: | We develop a dynamic political-economic theory of welfare state and immigration policies, featuring three distinct voting groups: skilled work- ers, 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 nance a transfer in a balanced- budget manner. We provide an analytical characterization of political- economic equilibrium policy rules consisting of the tax rate, the skill com- position 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. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed015:215&r=mig |
| By: | Kaninda Tshikala, Sam; Fonsah, Esendugue Greg |
| Abstract: | Remittances are viewed by the new economics of labor migration theory as a substitute for formal or informal credit that may enable households to overcome liquidity constraints and invest in new technologies and activities. To test this hypothesis, this paper analyzes the impact of migration and remittances on the adoption of modern agricultural technologies in rural Senegal. Survey data were analyzed using a three stage least squared model. The results reveal that both internal and international migrations have a positive impact on the adoption of new technologies. However, only households with international remittances were more likely to adopt modern technologies |
| Keywords: | Migration, remittances, Technology adoption, 3SLS, Senegal, Community/Rural/Urban Development, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea14:162461&r=mig |
| By: | Yang, Tongyang; Berning, Joshua; Colson, Greg; Smith, Travis A. |
| Abstract: | As immigrants settle and extend their stay in the U.S., they may be exposed to a food culture and lifestyle that impacts their food choice decisions and health outcomes. This paper focuses on the behavioral changes and acculturation level of different generations of Asian immigrants on food choice decisions employing the 2013 American Time Use Survey. Heckman two-step regression results indicate that the 1st generation immigrants participate or spend more time on eating and drinking, food preparation, and grocery shopping; and less in travel related eating and drinking compared with natives. The 1st generation is least likely to acculturate into American food culture. The 1.5 generation behaves more similarly to natives regarding the four food choice decisions, and appears to acculturate over time. The 2nd generation shows no significant difference to natives. Immigrants acculturate by food habit change from food at home to food away from home. |
| Keywords: | Asian immigrants, acculturation, food choice decisions, American Time Use Survey, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205323&r=mig |
| By: | Kusunose, Yoko; Rignall, Karen |
| Abstract: | We estimate the present-day effects on rural Moroccan households of past international migration--specifically, recruitment to work in the French mines sixty years--and its associated remittances and pensions. Using cluster analysis twice—once to categorize households as poor and non-poor in the early 1960s and again to categorize the directly-descended household in 2014—we identify the households that moved upward economically over the intervening period. Seemingly-unrelated probit estimation is then used to gauge the degree to which migration facilitated this process. We find that migration significantly increased the likelihood that the sending family's current-day members would presently be non-poor. Surprisingly, we also find that the simple act of applying to migrate also has a similar effect. For the poorest (in the pre-migration period) of households, recruitment for work could well have been exogenous. For these households, migration to work in the French mines is, by far, the strongest predictor of escaping poverty sixty years later. |
| Keywords: | migration, poverty, Morocco, International Development, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205558&r=mig |
| By: | Hu, Chaoran; Chen, Kevin Z.; Reardon, Thomas |
| Abstract: | Nonfarm activities (NFA) are a crucial component of the livelihood strategies of China’s rural households. Empirical evidence shows that 51% of rural households’ income in Asia is from nonfarm earnings (Haggblade, Hazell and Reardon 2007). However, the increasingly uneven spatial distribution of these nonfarm economies has raised the concerns in many countries. It is found that rural towns or intermediate cities play the more important roles in rural poverty reduction than big cities (Berdegué et al. 2015), yet, we still see more migrants concentrating in urban big cities in China. To explore this paradoxical situation will provide some evidences for other developing countries experiencing rapid yet unbalanced urbanization. In this paper, we used a unique data set to find out what are the factors driving rural migrant’s destination choice and whether they are always attracted by large cities. Apart from this main research question, several other contributions are made to the literature. First, this paper performs pioneer research by conducting the estimation of the determinants of Chinese rural off-farm worker’s locational choice, including and comparing both local and migratory NFA, both of which are important among rural households in China, yet the former is generally ignored in the literature. Second, the Nested-Logit Model is used to relax the irrelevant alternatives assumption, proved to be inappropriate if directly adopted traditional Logit or Multinomial Logit model in our case. The results suggested the importance of transportation as well as education to attract rural migrants. We did not see rural migrants preferring larger cities while facing with decreasing travel distances. For rural nonfarm economy, it is also important to improve agricultural performance in rural areas to generate multiplier effects as well as providing education/trainings to rural off-farm workers to be involved in higher-skilled NFA. |
| Keywords: | Rural Nonfarm, Migration, Destination choice, Nested Logit Model, China, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205535&r=mig |
| By: | Tisdell, Clem |
| Abstract: | The MIRAB model of Pacific island micro-economies was developed in the mid-1980s by the New Zealand economists, Bertram and Watters, and dominated the literature on the economics of small island nations and economies until alternative models were proposed two decades later. Nevertheless, it is still an influential theory. MIRAB is an acronym for migration (MI), remittance (R) and foreign aid (A) and the public bureaucracy (B); the main components of the MIRAB model. The nature of this model is explained and the importance of distinguishing between the two processes involved in it (one based on foreign aid and the other on overseas remittance) is emphasised. Evidence is given of the importance of migration and overseas remittance for the functioning of some Pacific island microstates, such as Tonga. Yet, it is argued that no single model adequately typifies the economic situations of Pacific microstates and micro-economies because of their diversity. Even economies that have been classified as MIRAB economies can be very different. The newer TOURAB, SITE and PROFIT models have similar limitations. In order to understand adequately the economic situation of Pacific island microstates (including their economic vulnerability, their sustainability, and political merchantabilities), it is necessary to adopt a more holistic approach which takes account of historical, cultural and environmental factors. This is illustrated by the case of Nauru. |
| Keywords: | Aid, economics of small island nations, migration, MIRAB model, Nauru, Pacific island microstates, sea level rise, remittances., Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Security and Poverty, P4, O1, O2, |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uqsese:165087&r=mig |
| By: | Carmen Camacho (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS); Fabio Mariani (IRES - Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales - UCL - Université Catholique de Louvain, IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor - Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) Bonn); Luca Pensieroso (IRES - Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales - UCL - Université Catholique de Louvain) |
| Abstract: | We build a general equilibrium model in which both illegal immigration and the size of the informal sector are endogenously determined and interact in a non-trivial way. We show that policy measures such as tax reduction and detection of informal activities can be used as substitutes for border enforcement, in order to contrast illegal immigration. In our framework, a welfare-maximising Government will never choose to drive illegal immigration to zero, but will set the tax rate to a lower value if it includes illegal immigration in its objective function. |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-01178945&r=mig |
| By: | Luo, Tianyuan; Escalante, Cesar L. |
| Abstract: | In addition to direct compensation (salaries and bonuses), fringe benefits such as employer-provided health insurance (EPHI) may also influence an individual’s decisions on actual and expected employment duration. This study analyzes the potential of EPHI in job retention among documented and undocumented farm workers in the United States at a time period when the farm sector is experiencing labor shortage crisis attributed to stricter immigration controls. In this study, farm worker-level data was preprocessed using Coarsened Exact Matching and analyzed under an ordered probit model. The results indicate that documented farm workers are generally responsive to EPHI in terms of both their actual employment duration and subjective working expectations. However, the EPHI did not significantly influence the subjective work expectations of undocumented farm workers. Moreover, the results imply that EPHI could not possibly be an effective tool for retaining undocumented workers on the farm once they are legalized. |
| Keywords: | Employer-provided health insurance, Employment decision, Subjective expectation, Agricultural and Food Policy, Health Economics and Policy, Labor and Human Capital, I13, J62, Q12, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205110&r=mig |
| By: | Angela Parenti; Cristina Tealdi |
| Abstract: | In this paper we study how the determinants of regional commuting in Italy have evolved in the past fifteen years. Using labour force data from 1992 to 2008 we estimate a model where the probability of commuting is regressed on a wide set of individual, job, firm and regional characteristics. Specifically, we focus on understanding how the increased flexibility of the labour market in the late nineties/early twenties have affected the individual decision to commute across regions. Consistent with the previous literature, we identify specific types of individual working in firms with well-defined features who are more keen to commute. However, even though temporary employ-ees tend to commute more than permanent employees, the increased utilization of temporary contracts did not have a strong impact on the commuting decisions of Italian workers. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Labour Mobility, Labour Flexibility, Italian regions |
| JEL: | C25 J41 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2015–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pie:dsedps:2015/203&r=mig |
| By: | Lopez Barrera, Emiliano; Murguia, Juan M. |
| Abstract: | We investigate wage settings in an experimental labor market to measure the effect of otherwise unobservable labor market characteristics on Hispanic job-seekers’ employment and wages. Agricultural and non-agricultural labor markets were simulated by controlling the student’s answer in a questionnaire about whether he or she is working or plans to work on a farm or rural county after graduation. This paper presents evidence supporting the existence of differences in discrimination on urban and rural markets. Average predicted productvity for Hispanic males in rural market was higher than in urban labor maket, suggesting that Hispanics male job-seekers are predicted to fit better in rural activities which may imply an invisible barrier that prevents their mobility from rural to urban labor market. |
| Keywords: | immigration, rural labor market, discrimination, Hispanics, experimental economics, Labor and Human Capital, J710, Q10, |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:206034&r=mig |
| By: | Luo, Tianyuan; Escalante, Cesar |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the factors influence the labor decisions of agricultural labor in the U.S. and finds the distinction among the three types of agricultural workers. Undocumented farmers are unresponsive to wage changes while other farmers are not; enhanced education decreases the probability of exiting farm for foreign-born farmers. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural labor force, Determinants, Farm exit, Education, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea14:162415&r=mig |