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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Couttenier, Mathieu; Preotu, Veronica; Rohner, Dominic; Thoenig, Mathias |
| Abstract: | We study empirically how past exposure to conflict in origin countries makes migrants more violent prone in their host country, focusing on asylum seekers in Switzerland. We exploit a novel and unique dataset on all crimes reported in Switzerland by nationalities of perpetrators and victims over the period 2009-2012. Causal analysis relies on the fact that asylum seekers are exogenously allocated across the Swiss territory by the federal administration. Our baseline result is that cohorts exposed to civil conflicts/mass killings during childhood are on average 40 percent more prone to violent crimes than their co-nationals born after the conflict. The effect is stable through the lifecycle and is attenuated for women, for property crimes and for low-intensity conflicts. Further, a bilateral crime regression shows that conflict exposed cohorts have a higher propensity to target victims from their own nationality --a piece of evidence that we interpret as persistence in intra-national grievances. Last, we exploit cross-region heterogeneity in public policies within Switzerland to document which integration policies are able to mitigate the detrimental effect of past conflict exposure on violent criminality. In particular, we find that offering labor market access to asylum seekers eliminates all the effect. |
| Keywords: | civil conflict; mass killing; migration; persistence of violence; refugees; violent crime |
| JEL: | D74 F22 K42 Z18 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11079&r=mig |
| By: | Burchardi, Konrad B.; Chaney, Thomas; Hassan, Tarek |
| Abstract: | We use 130 years of data on historical migrations to the United States to show a causal effect of the ancestry composition of US counties on foreign direct investment (FDI) sent and received by local firms. To isolate the causal effect of ancestry on FDI, we build a simple reduced-form model of migrations: migrations from a foreign country to a US county at a given time depend on (i) a push factor, causing emigration from that foreign country to the entire United States, and (ii) a pull factor, causing immigration from all origins into that US county. The interaction between time-series variation in country-specific push factors and county-specific pull factors generates quasi-random variation in the allocation of migrants across US counties. We find that a doubling of the number of residents with ancestry from a given foreign country relative to the mean increases by 4.2 percentage points the probability that at least one local firm invests in that country, and increases by 31% the number of employees at domestic recipients of FDI from that country. The size of these effects increases with the ethnic diversity of the local population, the geographic distance to the origin country, and the ethno-linguistic fractionalization of the origin country. |
| Keywords: | foreign direct investment; international trade; migrations; networks; social ties |
| JEL: | J61 L14 O11 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11025&r=mig |
| By: | Marco Caliendo; Deborah A. Cobb-Clark; Juliane Hennecke; Arne Uhlendorff |
| Abstract: | Internal migration can substantially improve labor market e ciency. Consequently, policy is often targeted towards reducing the barriers workers face in moving to new labor markets. In this paper we explicitly model internal migration as the result of a job search process and demonstrate that assumptions about the timing of job search have fundamental implications for the pattern of internal migration that results. Unlike standard search models, we assume that job seekers do not know the true job o er arrival rate, but instead form subjective beliefs { related to their locus of control { about the impact of their search e ort on the probability of receiving a job o er. Those with an internal locus of control are predicted to search more intensively (i.e. across larger geographic areas) because they expect higher returns to their search e ort. However, they are predicted to migrate more frequently only if job search occurs before migration. We then test the empirical implications of this model. We nd that individuals with an internal locus of control not only express a greater willingness to move, but also undertake internal migration more frequently. |
| Keywords: | Locus of Control, Internal Migration, Mobility, Job Search |
| JEL: | J61 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp818&r=mig |
| By: | Bosquet, Clément; Overman, Henry G |
| Abstract: | We consider the link between birthplace and wages. Using a unique panel dataset we estimate a raw elasticity of wage with respect to birthplace size of 4.6%, two thirds of the 6.8% raw elasticity with respect to city size. We consider a number of mechanisms through which this birthplace effect could arise. Our results suggest that inter-generational transmission (sorting) and the effect of birthplace on current location (geography) both play a role in explaining the effect of birthplace. We find no role for human capital formation at least in terms of educational outcomes (learning). Our results highlight the importance of intergenerational sorting in helping explain the persistence of spatial disparities. |
| Keywords: | lifetime mobility; place of birth; spatial sorting |
| JEL: | J31 J61 J62 R23 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11085&r=mig |
| By: | Wong, Pui-Hang (UNU-MERIT); Celbis, Mehmet Guney (UNU-MERIT) |
| Abstract: | This study addresses the question of why migration persists despite welfare improvements in migrant-sending countries. We show that migrants proceed to a location where the difference in freedom and income relative to their original location is large. Moreover, it is not only the origin-destination differences that play a role, but also the differences of these locations with the rest of the world. We reach our results by controlling for this dependency and possible sample selection biases in the context of origin-destination models. |
| Keywords: | International migration, human rights, freedom, income differences, bilateral flow |
| JEL: | F22 F50 O15 P16 |
| Date: | 2015–12–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2015053&r=mig |
| By: | Schotte,Simone Raphaela; Winkler,Hernan Jorge |
| Abstract: | Using household surveys for 24 countries over a 10-year period, this paper investigates why the elderly are more averse to open immigration policies than their younger peers. The analysis finds that the negative correlation between age and pro-immigration attitudes is mostly explained by a cohort or generational change. In fact, once controlling for year of birth, the correlation between age and pro-immigration attitudes is either positive or zero in most of the countries in the sample. Under certain assumptions, the estimates suggest that aging societies will tend to become less averse to open immigration regimes over time. |
| Keywords: | Science Education,Gender and Social Development,Youth and Government,Scientific Research&Science Parks,Population Policies |
| Date: | 2016–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7554&r=mig |
| By: | Eiji Yamamura |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how gender equality influences difference in cognitive skills between genders. For closer examination of Guiso et al. (2008), restricting the sample to immigrant allows us to reduce the possibility of reverse causality. Key findings obtained through regression estimation are: (1) decreased gender wage gap leads to girls exhibiting a reduced incidence of lateness and skipping school compared with boys, which in turn improves girlsf test scores in mathematics, science, and reading; (2) the direct effect of the decreased wage gap on test scores exceeds its indirect effect on performance owing to influencing school attendance. Considering the direct and indirect effects of the wage gap: each 1% decrease in the wage gap results in a 0.20%, 0.13% or 0.06% increase in test scores for mathematics, science, and reading, respectively. |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:0956&r=mig |
| By: | Ekrame Boubtane (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Jean-Christophe Dumont (International Migration Division - OECD - The Organisation for Economic Coopération and Development); Christophe Rault (LEO - Laboratoire d'économie d'Orleans - UO - Université d'Orléans - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This paper offers a reappraisal of the impact of migration on economic growth for 22 OECD countries between 1986--2006 and relies on a unique data set we compiled that allows us to distinguish net migration of the native- and foreign-born populations by skill level. Specifically, after introducing migration in an augmented Solow-Swan model, we estimate a dynamic panel model using a system of generalized method of moments (SYS-GMM) to address the risk of endogeneity bias in the migration variables. Two important findings emerge from our analysis. First, there exists a positive impact of migrants' human capital on GDP per capita, and second, a permanent increase in migration flows has a positive effect on productivity growth. However, the growth impact of immigration is small even in countries that have highly selective migration policies. |
| Abstract: | Ce papier reconsidère l'impact des migrations internationales sur la croissance économique pour 22 pays de OCDE entre 1986-2006 et repose sur une base de données originale que nous avons compilée, qui permet de distinguer entre le solde migratoire des autochtones et des étrangers, par niveau de qualification. Plus précisément, après avoir introduit les flux migratoires dans un modèle de Solow-Swan augmenté, nous estimons un modèle dynamique sur données de panel par la méthode des moments généralisés (SYS-GMM) afin de tenir compte de l'endogénéité potentielle de la variable migration. Deux conclusions importantes ressortent de notre analyse. Premièrement, il existe un impact positif du capital humain des migrants sur le PIB par tête, et deuxièmement, une hausse permanente des flux migratoires exerce un effet positif sur la croissance de la productivité. Cependant, l'impact de l'immigration sur la croissance demeure faible, et cela, même dans les pays ayant des politiques migratoires sélectives. |
| Keywords: | Growth,Human capital,Generalized Methods of Moments.,Immigration, Croissance, Capital Humain, Méthode des moments généralisés. |
| Date: | 2016–01–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-01252165&r=mig |