nep-mig New Economics Papers
on Economics of Human Migration
Issue of 2016‒03‒17
eleven papers chosen by
Yuji Tamura
La Trobe University

  1. Immigrants, Trust and Social Traps By Marini, Annalisa
  2. Temporary and permanent migrant selection: Theory and evidence of ability-search cost dynamics By Chen, Joyce J.; Kosec, Katrina; Mueller, Valerie
  3. The Formation of Networks in the Diaspora By Epstein, Gil S.; Heizler (Cohen), Odelia
  4. Migrants' Home Town Associations and Local Development in Mali By Lisa Chauvet; Flore Gubert; Marion Mercier; Sandrine Mesplé-Somps
  5. The long run effects of labor migration on human capital formation in communities of origin By Dinkelman, Taryn; Mariotti, Martine
  6. Social Contacts, Dutch Language Proficiency and Immigrant Economic Performance in the Netherlands: A Longitudinal Study By Chiswick, Barry R.; Wang, Zhiling
  7. Migrants, Health, and Happiness: Evidence that Health Assessments Travel with Migrants and Predict Well-Being By Ljunge, Martin
  8. International Remittances, Rural-Urban Migration, and the Quest for Quality Education: The Case of Nepal By Chakra P. Acharya; Roberto Leon-Gonzalez
  9. The Labor Market Performance of Immigrants in Germany By Robert C. M. Beyer
  10. Trends in unemployment and emigration of labor force By Sergej Vojtovic; Marcel Kordos
  11. The Nordic Labor Market and Migration By Giang Ho; Kazuko Shirono

  1. By: Marini, Annalisa
    Abstract: The paper estimates a social interactions model to study the impact of culture on US immigrants' decisions. Findings vary by group of immigrants and by type of social interactions and they are robust to both additional checks and sensitivity analysis. The paper contributes to the literature as follows. It first estimates a social interactions model that models both group formation and the formation of social interactions. Besides, since this is an observational learning model policy suggestions may be drawn to favor integration of immigrants. Finally, it provides a new empirical strategy to study the impact of both inherited and contemporaneous culture on individual decisions.
    Keywords: Social Interactions, Culture, Sequential Logit, Simulations
    JEL: C1 C31 Z1
    Date: 2016–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:69627&r=mig
  2. By: Chen, Joyce J.; Kosec, Katrina; Mueller, Valerie
    Abstract: The migrant selection literature concentrates primarily on spatial patterns. We integrate two workhorses of the labor literature, the Roy and search models, to illustrate the implications of migration duration for patterns of selection. Theory and empirics show that temporary migrants are intermediately selected on education, with weaker selection on cognitive ability. Longer migration episodes lead to stronger positive selection on both education and ability because the associated jobs involve finer employee-employer matching and offer greater returns to experience. Networks are more valuable for permanent migration, where search costs are higher. Labor market frictions explain observed complex network-skill interactions. When considering migrant selection, the economics literature has largely focused on patterns by area of origin. However, the duration of migration episodes–temporary versus permanent–is another important determinant of selection. We integrate two workhorses of the labor literature, the Roy model and a search model, to illustrate the implications of migration duration for patterns of self-selection. We provide theoretical and empirical evidence showing that, because short-term migration episodes have less scope for skill-based matching and greater need for screening, temporary migrants are more likely to display intermediate selection on education, with weaker selection on underlying cognitive ability. Longer term migration episodes, in contrast, allow for finer employee-employer matching and greater returns to experience, leading to stronger positive selection on both education and cognitive ability among permanent migrants. Networks are also found to be more valuable for permanent migration, where search costs tend to be higher. However, we also provide evidence of complex network-skill interactions, driven primarily by labor market frictions.
    Keywords: migration, labor markets, income, search costs, networks,
    Date: 2015
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1496&r=mig
  3. By: Epstein, Gil S. (Bar-Ilan University); Heizler (Cohen), Odelia (Academic College of Tel-Aviv Yaffo)
    Abstract: In this paper, we examine possible types of network formation among immigrants in the diaspora and between those immigrants and the locals in different countries. We present the model by considering different possible interactions between immigrants and the new society in their host country. Spread of migrants from the same origin in the diaspora may well increase international trade between the different countries, depending on the types of networks formed. We present possible applications of network structure on the country of origin, such as on international trade. We find that when the size of the diaspora is sufficiently large, the natives in the different countries will be willing to bear the linking cost with the immigrants because the possible benefits increase with increasing size of the diaspora.
    Keywords: immigrants, networks, diaspora
    JEL: D85 D74 J61 L14
    Date: 2016–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9762&r=mig
  4. By: Lisa Chauvet (DIAL - Développement, institutions et analyses de long terme - Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD]); Flore Gubert (DIAL - Développement, institutions et analyses de long terme - Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD]); Marion Mercier (Paris School of Economics - Université Panthéon Sorbonne (Paris 1)); Sandrine Mesplé-Somps (DIAL - Développement, institutions et analyses de long terme - Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD])
    Abstract: This paper explores the impact of Malian migrants' Home Town Associations (HTAs) located in France on the provision of local public goods in Mali. To this end, we compute an original dataset on all the HTAs that have been created by Malian migrants in France since 1981 and geo-localize their interventions on the Malian territory. Thanks to four waves of Malian census, we also build a panel dataset on the provision of a range of public goods in all Malian villages over the 1976-2009 period. These two sources of data allow us to implement a difference-in-differences strategy, and to compare villages with and without an HTA, before and after HTAs developed their activity in Mali. We find that Malian HTAs have significantly contributed to improve the provision of schools, health centers and water amenities over the 1987-2009 period. When looking at the timing of the treatment, we observe that the difference between treated and control villages in terms of water amenities is mainly driven by the second period of observation (1998-2009), while schools and health centers exhibit significant differences during the whole period.
    Abstract: Nous analysons l’impact des associations de migrants (AM) de Maliens vivant en France sur la disponibilité en biens publics au Mali. Pour ce faire, nous avons constitué une base originale de données qui recense l’ensemble des AM maliennes enregistrées au Journal Officiel français depuis 1981 et qui géo-référence leurs lieux d’intervention. Cette base est couplée avec quatre recensements exhaustifs qui permettent de connaître la disponibilité en biens publics de chaque village malien de 1976 à 2009. En mettant en oeuvre une estimation en double différences, nous montrons que les AM maliennes ont significativement contribué à l’augmentation du nombre d’écoles, de centres de santé et d’adduction d’eau sur la période 1987-2009. Plus précisément, on observe que la différence entre le groupe de villages traités et le groupe de contrôle concernant l’adduction en eau est dû à des investissements menés durant la seconde période (1998-2009) tandis que les financements des AM concernant les écoles et les centres de santé ont eu lieu tout au long de la période 1987-2009.
    Keywords: Mali,Biens publics locaux,Local public goods,Migration
    Date: 2015
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01276827&r=mig
  5. By: Dinkelman, Taryn; Mariotti, Martine
    Abstract: We provide new evidence of one channel through which circular labor migration has long run effects on origin communities: by raising completed human capital of the next generation. We estimate the net effects of migration from Malawi to South African mines using newly digitized Census and administrative data on access to mine jobs, a difference-in-differences strategy and two opposite-signed and plausibly exogenous shocks to the option to migrate. Twenty years after these shocks, human capital is 4.8-6.9% higher among cohorts who were eligible for schooling in communities with the easiest access to migrant jobs.
    Keywords: Africa; human capital formation; labor migration; long run impacts; origin communities
    JEL: F22 F24 N37 O12 O15 O55
    Date: 2016–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11134&r=mig
  6. By: Chiswick, Barry R. (George Washington University); Wang, Zhiling (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
    Abstract: Using longitudinal data on immigrants in the Netherlands for the years 1991, 1994, 1998, 2002, we examined the impacts of social contacts and Dutch language proficiency on adult foreign-born men's earnings, employment and occupational status. The main conclusions are as follows. On average, social contacts and a good mastery of the Dutch language enhance immigrants' economic performances. The effects are stronger for immigrants with low-skill-transferability than for immigrants with high-skill-transferability, and are stronger for economic migrants than for non-economic migrants. Contact with Dutch people and Dutch organisations unambiguously enhances all aspects of immigrants' economic performance, however, we found no evidence for the positive effect of co-ethnic contact on employment status.
    Keywords: social capital, Dutch language proficiency, labour market performance, Dutch immigrants, skill transferability
    JEL: J15 J61 Z13
    Date: 2016–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9760&r=mig
  7. By: Ljunge, Martin (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN))
    Abstract: Health assessments correlate with health outcomes and subjective well-being. Immigrants offer an opportunity to study persistent social influences on health where the social conditions are not endogenous to individual outcomes. This approach provides a clear direction of causality from social conditions to health, and in a second stage to well-being. Natives and immigrants from across the world residing in 30 European countries are studied using survey data. The paper applies within country analysis using both linear regressions and two stage least squares. Natives’ and immigrants’ individual characteristics have similar predictive power for health, except Muslim immigrants who experience a sizeable health penalty. Average health reports in the immigrant’s birth country have a significant association with the immigrant’s current health. Almost a quarter of the birth country health variation is brought by the immigrants, while conditioning on socioeconomic characteristics. There is no evidence of the birth country predictive power declining neither as the immigrant spends more time in the residence country nor over the life course. The second stage estimates indicate that a one standard deviation improvement in health predicts higher happiness by 1.72 point or 0.82 of a standard deviation, more than four times the happiness difference of changing employment status from unemployed to employed. Studying life satisfaction yields similar results. Health improvements predict substantial increases in individual happiness.
    Keywords: Health status; Self-reported health; Subjective well-being (SWB); Happiness; Life satisfaction; Immigrant health
    JEL: F22 I12 I31 J15
    Date: 2016–02–25
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1112&r=mig
  8. By: Chakra P. Acharya (Election Commission, Nepal); Roberto Leon-Gonzalez (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies)
    Abstract: Using primary field data from recently developed urban areas of Nepal, we identify households who migrated from rural to urban areas and analyze the impact of international remittances on their investment in education. The results show that rural-urban migrant households who receive international remittances have lower income and consumption but higher human-capital investment, measured by the level and budget share of expenditure on children’s education and the time their children spend studying at home, in comparison to local households and other types of migrant households. The findings suggest that an important motivation for rural-urban migration is the search for higher-quality education, because the experience of international migration helps households to know the higher returns to education abroad and international remittances help to finance the costs of both internal migration and education. We also observe that the quality of education is an increasingly important concern in contemporary Nepalese society, possibly due to the anticipated higher returns to education in the global labor market.
    Date: 2016–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ngi:dpaper:15-25&r=mig
  9. By: Robert C. M. Beyer
    Abstract: The paper uses a large survey (GSOEP) to analyze the labor market performance of immigrants in Germany. It finds that new immigrant workers earn on average 20 percent less than native workers with otherwise identical characteristics. The gap is smaller for immigrants from advanced countries, with good German language skills, and with a German degree, and larger for others. The gap declines gradually over time. Less success in obtaining jobs with higher occupational autonomy explains half of the wage gap. Immigrants are also initially less likely to participate in the labor market and more likely to be unemployed. While participation fully converges after 20 years, immigrants always remain more likely to be unemployed than the native labor force.
    Keywords: Europe;Unemployment;Wages;Germany;Migration;labor market, participation, immigrants, immigrant, immigration, International Migration, Economics of Minorities, Time Allocation and Labor Supply,
    Date: 2016–01–21
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:16/6&r=mig
  10. By: Sergej Vojtovic (Alexander Dubcek University in Trencin); Marcel Kordos (Alexander Dubcek University in Trencin)
    Abstract: The situation on the labour market can be influenced by other factors apart from economic development. Equally as important are political decisions, qualification of labor force, its values and attitudes, flexibility of labour jurisdiction and flexible forms of employment, demographic swings in population, employee relations and social aspects within their implementation. The study explores trends in economic development, unemployment and in the migration flow of labor force abroad during the period of economic growth before the onset of global financial crisis. Geographically it covers countries of Central Europe. We look into causal dependence between economic growth, decrease in unemployment rate and migration flows of labor force. Moreover we argue that a significant drop of unemployment rate during the studied period was not predominantly the result of economic growth but it was caused by emigration of labor force.
    Keywords: economic growth, investments, employment, unemployment, emigration, labor force.
    JEL: F22 J61 J62
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iefpro:3205864&r=mig
  11. By: Giang Ho; Kazuko Shirono
    Abstract: The large influx of migrants to Nordic countries in recent years is challenging the adoptability of Nordic labor market institutions while also adding to potential growth. This paper examines the trends, economic drivers, and labor market implications of migration to Nordic countries with a particular focus on economic migration as distinct from the recent large flows of asylum seekers. Our analysis finds that migration inflows to the Nordics are influenced by both cyclical and structural factors. Although migration helpfully dampens overheating pressures during periods of strong demand, and over the longer term will cushion the decline in labor supply from population aging, in the near-term unemployment can rise, especially among the young and lower-skilled. The analysis highlights the need to adapt Nordic labor market institutions in a manner that better facilitates the integration of migrants into employment. In particular, greater wage flexibility at the firm level and continued strong active labor market measures will help improve labor market outcomes among immigrants.
    Keywords: Denmark;Europe;Finland;Norway;Sweden;Nordic countries, migration, labor market, unemployment, Nordic model, labor, labor supply, drivers, Institutions and the Macroeconomy, Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure, Economics of Minorities, Labor Economics Policies, Demographic Trends and Forecasts,
    Date: 2015–12–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:15/254&r=mig

This nep-mig issue is ©2016 by Yuji Tamura. It is provided as is without any express or implied warranty. It may be freely redistributed in whole or in part for any purpose. If distributed in part, please include this notice.
General information on the NEP project can be found at http://nep.repec.org. For comments please write to the director of NEP, Marco Novarese at <director@nep.repec.org>. Put “NEP” in the subject, otherwise your mail may be rejected.
NEP’s infrastructure is sponsored by the School of Economics and Finance of Massey University in New Zealand.