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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes (San Diego State University); Esther Arenas-Arroyo (University of Oxford) |
| Abstract: | Tougher immigration enforcement has been responsible for 1.8 million deportations between 2009 and 2013 alone, most of them involving fathers and heads of household. We exploit the geographic and temporal variation in intensified enforcement to gauge its impact on children’s propensity to live without their parents in households headed by relatives or friends, or in households singly headed by their mothers with absentee spouses. Given the emotional, cognitive and long run socioeconomic costs of being raised without parents or in a single-headed household, gaining a better understanding of the collateral damage of heightened enforcement on the families to which these children belong is well warranted. |
| Keywords: | Immigration Enforcement, Unauthorized Immigration, Family Structure, United States |
| JEL: | J13 J15 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:1711&r=mig |
| By: | Bauer, Thomas K. (RWI); Giesecke, Matthias (RWI); Janisch, Laura (RWI) |
| Abstract: | We examine the long-run effects of forced migration from Eastern Europe into post-war Germany. Existing evidence suggests that displaced individuals are worse off economically, facing a considerably lower income and a higher unemployment risk than comparable natives even twenty years after being expelled. We extend this literature by investigating the relative performance of forced migrants across the entire life cycle. Using social security records that document the exact date of death and a proxy for pre-retirement lifetime earnings, we estimate a significantly and considerably higher mortality risk among forced migrants compared to native West-Germans. The adverse displacement effect persists throughout the earnings distribution except for the top quintile. Although forced migrants are generally worse off regarding mortality outcomes, those with successful labor market histories seem to overcome the long-lasting negative consequences of flight and expulsion. |
| Keywords: | forced migration, differential mortality, lifetime earnings, economic history |
| JEL: | I12 J61 O15 R23 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11116&r=mig |
| By: | Evan Taylor (University of Chicago); Bryan Stuart (George Washington University) |
| Abstract: | This paper estimates the effect of social connectedness on crime across U.S. cities from 1960- 2009. Migration networks among African Americans from the South generated variation across destinations in the concentration of migrants from the same birth town. Using this novel source of variation, we find that social connectedness considerably reduces murders, robberies, assaults, burglaries, larcenies, and motor vehicle thefts, with a one standard deviation increase in social connectedness reducing murders by 13 percent and motor vehicle thefts by 9 percent. Our results appear to be driven by stronger relationships among older generations reducing crime committed by youth. |
| Keywords: | crime, social connectedness, Great Migration |
| JEL: | K42 N32 R23 Z13 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2017-24&r=mig |
| By: | Daniele Coen-Pirani (University of Pittsburgh) |
| Abstract: | I study the effect of progressive income redistribution on human capital investment and welfare in a new dynamic model of migration. The model features an arbitrary number of labor markets and finitely-lived agents, yet it is analytically tractable. The model's key parameters are estimated using panel data on migration and wage growth from the PSID. The quantitative model is used to perform counterfactual analysis. A more progressive tax-transfer scheme is shown to reduce migration rates. This distortion to human capital investment induces the welfare-maximizing social planner to select a less progressive tax system than under exogenous geographic mobility. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed017:1079&r=mig |
| By: | Dickson, Lisa (University of Maryland, Baltimore County); Gindling, T. H. (University of Maryland, Baltimore County); Kitchin, James (University of Maryland) |
| Abstract: | Many undocumented immigrants come to the U.S. as children. Undocumented immigrant children have a legal right to attend free public primary and secondary schools. However, in most states undocumented immigrants are treated as out-of-state students in public colleges and universities, and are therefore required to pay substantially higher tuition than other state residents. Since 2001, 21 of 50 U.S. states have implemented policies that allow undocumented immigrants to qualify for in-state resident tuition (ISRT) at public colleges and universities. In 12 of these states undocumented immigrants are also eligible for financial aid. In this study we present strong evidence that both ISRT policies and access to financial aid significantly increase the college enrollment and graduation rates of undocumented immigrants but have no impact on the college enrollment or graduation rates of U.S.-born youth. Another important change in immigration policy that affects many undocumented immigrant children is the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). DACA allows undocumented individuals who came to the U.S. as children to obtain legal employment. The potential of being able to work legally in the United States could represent a significant increase in earnings as well as a substantial increase in the perceived benefits of higher education. Our findings present evidence that DACA led to an increase in youth employment and a decrease in college enrollment rates. Further, we find no evidence that the introduction of DACA reduced or increased the positive impact of ISRT and financial aid policies. |
| Keywords: | higher education, undocumented immigrants, tuition policies at public universities |
| JEL: | I23 J61 |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11109&r=mig |
| By: | Christl, Michael; Köppl-Turyna, Monika; Gnan, Phillipp |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes wage differences between natives and immigrants in Austria. First, we show that for both groups, literacy skills are an important determinant of the hourly wage. In the second step, we show that differences in proficiency with respect to literacy can explain more than three log points of the total wage gap of 9.7 log points between natives and immigrants. When adding literacy skills to the wage decomposition, the discriminatory part vanishes completely, suggesting that the wage difference between immigrants and natives in Austria can be to a large extent explained. Furthermore, we account for a possible sample selection bias. After controlling for literacy skills, the unexplained part of the gap becomes statistically insignificant. The importance of literacy skills in explaining wage differences between natives and immigrants is robust across several sensitivity tests. |
| Keywords: | wage,decomposition,gap,immigrants,natives,Austria |
| JEL: | J71 J15 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:145&r=mig |
| By: | Paolo Abarcar |
| Abstract: | This paper uses exogenous exchange rate shocks arising from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis to distinguish between the motivations of Australian immigrants to return to their home country. |
| Keywords: | Return migration, Exchange rate, Immigrants, Australia |
| JEL: | F Z |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:cfbc89b155c04d549a8e7595850e9c8e&r=mig |
| By: | Christian Lumpe (Justus-Liebig-University Giessen); Claudia Lumpe (Justus-Liebig-University Giessen) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the oversea emigration of German passengers via the port of Bremen in the period of the Weimar Republic (1920–1932). We use a novel micro-dataset of digitalized passengers lists including about 181,000 emigrants as an estimation of the outflow of Germans from the German Reich. The descriptive analysis shows that the dataset is overall representative compared to official statistics except for the years 1924 and 1929 in which the data loss is huge. Furthermore, we deduce the skill level of the emigrating working population on the basis of information about occupations in the dataset. We find that male migrants had higher skills than female migrants and that South American countries attracted a relatively better skill distribution than the United States although the latter represented the main destination country for emigrants of any skill level in absolute numbers. |
| Keywords: | Bremen, migration accounting, migratory outflows, skill level |
| JEL: | F22 N33 N34 O15 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:201753&r=mig |
| By: | Geis, Wido |
| Abstract: | The freedom of movement for workers is one of the core principles of the European Union and most Europeans have positive attitude towards it. 75 percent regard it as a good and only 9 percent as a bad thing. Nevertheless, the number of persons moving from one EU member country to another is still small. In 2016, only 3.57 million inhabitants of the EU between 25 and 35 years had the nationality of another member state. This equates to a share of 5.4 percent and is less than the number of third country nationals in this age group with 4.69 million or 7.1 percent. If labour mobility would be enhanced, this could be helpful for all countries. On one hand, it could help the economically strong countries to avoid skill shortage and, on the other hand, it could relieve the burden from the social systems in the countries with high unemployment rates, especially in southern Europe. This does not necessarily hold true for migration flows from the eastern to the western EU member states, as, in this case, the crucial factor is not the difference in the labour market situation but at the welfare level. The main obstacle to EU mobility is the linguistic divide in Europe. As a consequence of it, most people willing to work in another EU member state have to learn a new language first. This can be very costly in terms of time and money and prevent people from migrating. A joint language that is spoken by all Europeans would be helpful. This could only be English, as it is taught in the schools in all member states. Nevertheless, although, by now, nearly all pupils in Europe get an intense training in English, the language skills of large parts of the adult populations in the EU member states do not yet suffice for a deeper communication in English. Thus, persons who are willing to move still have to learn the language of the destination country. To facilitate this, the supply of language classes in destination countries as well as in the countries of origin should be improved. Moreover, measures that foster transnational social networks can also be helpful, as they give people the chance to use the foreign languages and make contacts in potential destination countries. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwkpps:182017&r=mig |