|
on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Prummer, Anja (Cambridge-INET Institute); Siedlarek, Jan-Peter (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland) |
| Abstract: | We explain persistent differences in cultural traits of immigrant groups with the presence of community leaders. Leaders influence the cultural traits of their community, which have an impact on the group’s earnings. They determine whether a community will be more assimilated and wealthier or less assimilated and poorer. With a leader, cultural integration remains incomplete. The leader chooses more distinctive cultural traits in high-productivity environments and if the community is more connected. Lump-sum transfers to immigrants can hinder cultural integration. These findings are in line with integration patterns of various ethnic and religious groups. |
| Keywords: | Cultural Integration; Cultural Transmission; Leadership; Immigrants; Labor Market Outcomes; Social Influence; Networks |
| JEL: | D02 J15 Z10 |
| Date: | 2015–10–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcwp:1517&r=all |
| By: | Naudé W.; Siegel M.; Marchand K. (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | We provide an assessment of the state of scholarly and policy debates on migrant entrepreneurs in development. They are often described as super-entrepreneurs who contribute to development through i being more entrepreneurial than natives; ii providing remittances that fund start-ups in their countries of origin and iii returning entrepreneurial skills to their home countries when they re-migrate. We evaluate these three views and conclude that the empirical evidence to support the notion of the migrant as a super-entrepreneur is weak. We further argue that the evidence is less ambiguous on the general development contribution of migration over and above its contribution through entrepreneurship. The implication is that removal of discriminatory barriers against migrants and against migrant entrepreneurs in labour, consumer and financial markets will promote development in both sending and receiving countries, not least through reducing the shares of migrants that are reluctant entrepreneurs. |
| Keywords: | International Migration; Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies: General; Entrepreneurship; Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration; |
| JEL: | J60 L26 O15 F22 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2015033&r=all |
| By: | Ismaël Issifou (LEO - Laboratoire d'Economie d'Orléans - CNRS - Université d'Orléans); Francesco Magris (IXXI Institut Rhônalpin des systèmes complexes, LEO - Laboratoire d'Economie d'Orléans - CNRS - Université d'Orléans) |
| Abstract: | We study the effects of more open borders on return migration and show that migrants are more likely to return to the origin country when migration rules are softer, because this implies that they could more easily re-migrate if return migration is unsuccessful. As a result, softening migration rules leads to lower net inflows than generally acknowledged. We show that if government follows rules to shape the optimal migration policy, it will chose more open borders than in the case its behavior is discretionary. However, this requires an appropriate commitment technology. We show that electoral accountability may be a solution of the commitment problem. As a matter of fact, observed softer immigration rules in western countries suggest the effectiveness of such a mechanism. |
| Keywords: | Migration Return,Optimal Migration Policy,Time Consistency |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01207706&r=all |
| By: | Michel Beine (CREA, Université de Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | This paper covers the literature on the role migrants networks in explaining aggregate migration flows between countries. We first provide a small review of the literature and the issues at stake. We then provide an update of the estimates of the network elasticities using the dataset on migration stocks and flows from Ozden et al. (2011). Using micro-founded gravity models, we estimate the network elasticities and discuss the key driving mechanisms explaining their size as well the variation in the amplitude across categories of destination and over time. We emphasize the specific role of family immigration policies. To that purpose, we cover briefly the recent experience of four receiving countries to highlight the importance of these policies in explaining part of the observed network elasticities. |
| Keywords: | F22, O15, R11, R15 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:luc:wpaper:15-14&r=all |
| By: | Ekrame BOUBTANE; Jean-Christophe DUMONT; Christophe RAULT |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:leo:wpaper:2235&r=all |
| By: | Isaac Dadson (Ghana Statistical Service, Economic Statistics Division, Ghana); Ryuta Ray Kato (International University of Japan) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a computable general equilibrium (CGE) framework to numerically examine the impact of remittances and the brain drain on poverty reduction as well as income inequality in Ghana. The generalized framework with the latest Ghanaian input-output table of year 2005 with 59 different production sectors provides the following results: On the impact of remittances, more remittances reduce poverty, and expand the Ghanaian economy. On the impact on income inequality, it depends on who receives more remittances. If the rural (urban) households receive more remittances, then income inequality shrinks (widens). On the impact of the brain drain, it is negative to both poverty reduction and income inequality, even if the externality effect of the brain drain is taken into account. On the overall impact of both remittances and the brain drain in Ghana, income inequality becomes more severe. On the other hand, the overall impact on poverty reduction, it depends on the amount of remittances as well as the sector where the brain drain occurs. As long as the brain drain occurs in either the education or the health sector, then the positive impact of remittances outweighs the negative impact of the brain drain. However, if the brain drain occurs in the public administration sector, then more remittances are needed to offset the negative impact of more brain drain. Furthermore, if the brain drain occurs in all sectors by more than 5 percent, then even a 30 percent increase in remittances to both rural and urban households is not large enough to offset the negative impact of the brain drain, thus, eventuating in the Ghanaian economy being damaged as a whole. |
| Keywords: | Ghana, Remittance, Brain Drain, Poverty, Income Inequality, ComputableGeneral Equilibrium (CGE) Model, Simulation |
| JEL: | C68 D58 I32 O15 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iuj:wpaper:ems_2015_04&r=all |
| By: | Lee, Wang-Sheng (Deakin University); Zhao, Zhong (Renmin University of China) |
| Abstract: | In general, the happiness literature has paid little attention to the relationship between physical appearance and well-being. In this paper, we examine the link between weight, height and well-being for three distinct samples in China given that attractiveness effects likely vary greatly across sociocultural contexts. As China has recently undergone rapid economic transformation in the urban areas, this empirical exercise is particularly interesting because it can highlight how changing social norms have affected the relationship between physical appearance and subjective well-being. For the rural and migrant samples, we find that for both men and women, big and tall individuals have higher levels of well-being. This is consistent with the notion that the strong are better off when more labor intensive work is the norm. For the urban sample and for urban males in particular, no well-being penalty is found for being obese, unlike previous results based on Western samples. It is very likely that the unique Chinese cultural practice of network building banquets and feasting is behind this finding. |
| Keywords: | China, subjective well-being, height, weight, semi-parametric |
| JEL: | I10 I30 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9397&r=all |