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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Géraldine Bocqueho (BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Marc Deschamps (UBFC - Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE]); Jenny Helstroffer (UL - Université de Lorraine); Julien Jacob (UL - Université de Lorraine); Majlinda Joxhe (University of Luxembourg) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses the experimental setup of Tanaka et al. (2010) to measure refugees' risk preferences. A sample of 206 asylum seekers was interviewed in 2017-18 in Luxembourg. Contrary to studies which focus on risk aversion in general, we analyze its components using a cumulative prospect theory (CPT) frame-work. We show that refugees exhibit particularly low levels of risk aversion compared to other populations and that CPT provides a better fit for modelling risk attitudes. Moreover, we include randomised temporary treatments provoking emotions and find a small significant impact on probability distortion. Robustness of the Tanaka et al. (2010) experimental framework is confirmed by including treatments regarding the embedding effect. Finally, we propose a theoretical model of refugee migration that integrates the insights from our experimental outcomes regarding the functional form of refugees' decision under risk and the estimated parameter values. The model is then simulated using the data from our study. |
| Keywords: | refugee migration,risk preferences,experimental economics,cumulative prospect theory,psychological priming |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02198118&r=all |
| By: | Kolb, Michael; Neidhöfer, Guido; Pfeiffer, Friedhelm |
| Abstract: | We exploit a novel survey of recently arrived asylum seekers in Germany in order to estimate the degree of intergenerational mobility in education among refugees and compare it to the educational mobility of similar-aged individuals in their region of origin. The findings show that the refugees in our sample display high rates of educational mobility, and that their upward mobility is rather high when compared to the reference group in their region of origin. These results suggest that there exists positive skill selection among recently arrived refugees in Germany. |
| Keywords: | immigrant selection,asylum seekers,human capital,family background |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J24 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:19027&r=all |
| By: | Mario Scharfbillig (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz); Marco Weissler (Institut fuer Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Goethe University Frankfurt) |
| Abstract: | We provide estimates of the effect of migrant labor supply on resident employment. We exploit variation in the number of asylum seekers eligible to the suspension of a major hiring restriction implemented in a subset of German counties. Our difference-in-difference design allows us to provide evidence from a labor supply shock of migrants on local markets net of their additional spending at arrival that might mask labor market displacement effects. Despite this, we do not find a negative effect on employment growth of natives but only on other foreign residents. This also holds for unskilled employees. Therefore, our findings can be interpreted as the consequence of differential substitutability of different subgroups, where asylum seekers are substitutes to other immigrants but not natives - even when they are similarly qualified. |
| Keywords: | asylum seeker, displacement, skill complementarity |
| JEL: | J22 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2019–07–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jgu:wpaper:1910&r=all |
| By: | Bruno Gabriel Witzel de Souza (University of Goettingen / Germany) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the history of bonded labor in the plantations of São Paulo. Brazilian farmers proposed various contracts to bond immigrant households with a credit-labor interlinkage. The aim is to discuss why different laborrental arrangements were adopted. In particular, vis-à-vis the alternatives of fixed rents and wage systems, it asks why sharecropping contracts were offered to European laborers during the transition from slavery in Brazil. Building on some new historical evidence and a formal model, the paper makes two propositions about the rationale of bonded labor and sharecropping. First, the credit dimension was more important to landowners than specific labor-rental regimes. The credit supplied by landowners allowed for the tying of immigrants via indebtedness. This mechanism guaranteed a secure and stable supply of labor to local agricultural elites and permitted the immigration of poor and credit-constrained Europeans. This prepared the insertion of Brazil into the global circuit of the Age of Mass Migration without promoting institutional reforms to attract non-bonded immigrants. Second, sharecropping became the most prevalent contract in the first phase of the transition from slavery not because of an economically rational decision taken by landowners, but more as an emulation of other historical and international experiences with this labor-rental arrangement. |
| Date: | 2019–06–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:iaidps:239&r=all |
| By: | Meng, Xin; Xue, Sen |
| Abstract: | Over the past two decades, more than 160 million Chinese rural workers have migrated to cities to work. They are separated from their familiar rural networks to work in an unfamiliar, and often hostile environment. Many of them thus face significant mental health challenges. This paper is the first to investigate the extent to which migrant social networks in host cities can mitigate these adverse mental health effects. Using a unique longitudinal survey data of Rural-to-Urban Migration in China (RUMiC), we find that network size matters significantly for migrant workers. Our preferred IV estimates suggest that one standard deviation increase in migrant city networks, on average, reduces the measure of mental health problem by 0.47 to 0.66 of a standard deviation. Similar effects are found among less educated, those working longer hours, and those without access to social insurance. The main channel of the network effect is through boosting confidence and reducing anxiety of migrants. |
| Keywords: | Mental Health,Social Networks,Migration,China |
| JEL: | I12 I15 J61 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:370&r=all |
| By: | Xesfingi, Sofia; Karamanis, Dimitrios; Kechrinioti, Alexandra |
| Abstract: | Background: Subjective health status and migration are critical issues in healthcare policy and strategic decision making. There are many health challenges to resolve and at the same time, migration has reached to historic highs, leading to different views among immigrants and natives, policy makers and habitants. Objective: Our research focuses on the subjective health status reported by European habitants, on its differentiation with respect to participants origin, and on whether various demographic, macroeconomic and other factors, such as the foreigners’ presence in a country, affect it. Setting and participants: Using survey data of 227,200 respondents from 22 countries and over the period 2002-2016, and employing logit estimation techniques, we analysed the effect of demographic, macroeconomic and other factors in shaping respondents’ subjective health status. Results: Our results demonstrate the important role of all demographic factors in shaping respondents’ subjective health status. Immigrants report a higher subjective health status, while macroeconomic conditions and foreign presence in a country do play an important role. A country healthcare provision state and health expenditures can moderate the negative effect of foreigners’ presence and thus the reported health status of natives. Conclusions: The factors influencing subjective health status are complex and interdependent. However, government policies should increase social cohesion, since, the latter is not only related to health care outcomes but also can be a tool for disseminating social inequalities. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Europe, ESS, Subjective health status |
| JEL: | C25 F22 I10 J61 O52 |
| Date: | 2019–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:95126&r=all |
| By: | Monica Langella; Alan Manning |
| Abstract: | The UK has suffered from persistent spatial differences in unemployment rates for many decades. A low responsiveness of internal migration to unemployment is often argued to be an important cause of this problem. This paper uses UK census data to investigate how unemployment affects residential mobility using very small areas as potential destinations and origins and four decades of data. It finds that both in- and out-migration are affected by unemployment, although the effect on in-migration appears to be stronger - but also that there is a very high 'cost of distance' so most moves are very local. Using individual longitudinal data we show that the young and the better educated have a lower cost of distance but that sensitivity to unemployment shows much less variability across groups. |
| Keywords: | residential mobility, regional inequality, unemployment |
| JEL: | Z1 J01 R10 J21 |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1639&r=all |
| By: | Dean Hyslop (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Trinh Le (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); David C. Maré (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Steven Stillman (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the relationship between local area housing and population size and migrant-status composition, using population data from the 1986–2013 New Zealand Censuses, house sales price data from Quotable Value New Zealand, rent data from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and building consents data from Statistics New Zealand. Measured at the Territorial Local Authority and Auckland Ward (TAW) area level, we estimate the elasticity of house prices with respect to population is 0.4-0.65, similar but smaller elasticity of apartment prices, but find no evidence of any local population effects on rents. We also estimate the elasticity of housing quantity with respect to population of about 0.9. Although international migration flows are an important contributor to population fluctuations, we find little evidence of systematic effects of international or domestic migrant composition of the local population on prices or quantity. In particular, despite there being a strong correlation between immigration and house price changes nationally, there is no evidence that local house or apartment prices are positively related to the share of new immigrants in an area. Repeating the analysis for more narrowly defined areas within Auckland, we estimate a smaller house price elasticity with respect to population in the range 0–0.15. Finally, our analysis suggests that longer-term housing supply is relatively elastic, and demand inelastic, with respect to price. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, population, housing markets, house prices, rents |
| JEL: | J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtu:wpaper:19_14&r=all |
| By: | Chletsos, Michael; Roupakias, Stelios |
| Abstract: | Using a global dataset of over 100 developed and developing countries, we attempt to identify the nexus between immigration and the economic performance of countries, as proxied by export sophistication. To isolate causal effects, we use instruments obtained from a pseudo-gravity model of bilateral immigration in the spirit of Frankel and Rose (2002). Employing an extensive set of institutional, demographic, climate and disease controls, we find that countries with high immigrant concentrations tend to exhibit lower performance. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Gravity Model, Instrumental variables, Economic complexity |
| JEL: | C26 F14 F22 O19 |
| Date: | 2019–07–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:94994&r=all |
| By: | Andreeva, Andriyana; Yolova, Galina |
| Abstract: | The paper examines the specifics and system of regulation of the administrative penal liability under the Labour Migration and Labour Mobility Act (LMLMA). In the context of the peculiarities and essence of the subject matter of this special law, we have analysed the basic administrative offences and the penalties provided for them, as well as the corresponding competence of the control bodies. The authors have drawn conclusions and highlighted tendencies in the control and realisation of legal liability under the legislation, and have set forth basic recommendations for improving the legal provisions and clarifying the described offences. |
| Keywords: | occupational migration, labour mobility, administrative penal liability, provision of labour by foreigners, violations of LMLMA |
| JEL: | K31 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:95253&r=all |