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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Orkoh, Emmanuel; Stolzenburg, Victor |
| Abstract: | The gains from trade depend on the reallocation of resources, including labour, across firms and sectors. However, workers are unlikely to be fully mobile since there are barriers to sectoral and geographical mobility due to social reasons such as family or existing private and professional networks. If these barriers depend on specific characteristics of workers, such as education, gender or race, this has important implications for inequality. In this note we examine gender-specific differences regarding geographical mobility in Ghana. Using survey data from the 2017 Ghana Living Standard Survey, we find that while men and women are equally likely to migrate, men are much more likely to move for economic reasons. Women on the other hand move predominantly for social reasons such as marriage. This is supported by both indicated reasons for migration and indirect evidence. For instance, men are more likely to be employed, send higher and more frequently remittances, and target regions that offer better employment prospects. These stylized facts suggest that Ghanaian men can more easily adjust to trade shocks than Ghanaian women. While we cannot infer from this evidence what determines the differences in geographical mobility between men and women, we can infer that men are more likely to benefit from a trade-induced expansion of exporting sectors and firms and are less likely to be hurt by a tradeinduced contraction of import-competing sectors and firms. |
| Keywords: | gender inequality,mobility,gains from trade |
| JEL: | J16 J61 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wtowps:ersd202001&r=all |
| By: | Hix, Simon; Kaufmann, Eric; Leeper, Thomas J. |
| Abstract: | Immigration is highly salient for voters in Europe and the United States and has generated considerable academic debate about the causes of preferences over immigration. This debate centers around the relative influences of sociotropic or personal economic considerations, as well as non-economic threats. We provide a test of the competing egocentric, sociotropic, and non-economic paradigms using a novel constrained preference experiment in which respondents are asked to trade-off preferred reductions in immigration levels with realistic estimates of the personal or societal costs associated with those reductions. This survey experiment, per- formed on a national sample of British YouGov panelists, allows us to measure the price-elasticity of the public’s preferences with regard to levels of European and non-European immigration. Respondents were willing to admit more immigrants when restriction carries economic costs, with egocentric considerations as important as sociotropic ones. People who voted for the UK to Leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum are less price-elastic than those voting Remain, indicating that non-economic concerns are also important. |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2019–01–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:103268&r=all |
| By: | Issifou,Ismael |
| Abstract: | Millions of forcibly displaced people apply for asylum every year facing uncertain outcomes. What can explain cross-country heterogeneity in these outcomes? This study provides estimates of the determinants of asylum admission policies in host countries using a bilateral panel data set covering 201 origin and 113 destination countries between 2000 and 2017. The paper shows that in high-income countries, unlike in low- and middle-income countries, approval policies are influenced by political factors such as political polarization and electoral periods. The study also finds that macroeconomic factors, labor market outcomes, and public spending can play an important role in final decisions on asylum. |
| Date: | 2020–02–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9153&r=all |
| By: | Thanh-Tung Nguyen; Trung Thanh Nguyen; Ulrike Grote |
| Abstract: | Enhancement of rice production efficiency in developing countries is important to improve the livelihoods of farmers and to ensure global food security for a growing population. Despite significant progress in recent decades, rice production in these countries is facing multiple challenges from climate change, land degradation, to the increasing competition for land and labour from urbanization and industrialization. Given that rice farmers in Vietnam often suffer from extreme weather events and lack of access to credit, our study aims to (i) investigate the impact of weather shocks and credit on the rice production efficiency, and to (ii) examine the role of credit in mitigating the impact of weather shocks. We find that weather shocks, land fragmentation and the migration of household members are the major sources of inefficiency. Meanwhile, livestock, farm mechanization and education level are positive factors for rice production efficiency. In addition, our results show that access to credit plays a significant role in mitigating the negative impact of weather shocks. Our studies call for more assistance and support to farmers in mitigating the severe effect of weather shocks, in particular, via the promotion of credit market. In addition, the encouragement of farm mechanization, land defragmentation, livestock farming and the improvement of rural education should be given a high priority to improve the rice production efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Weather shocks, Agricultural production efficiency, Credit |
| JEL: | Q12 Q54 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tvs:wpaper:wp-017&r=all |
| By: | Manh Hung Do; Trung Thanh Nguyen; Thanh-Tung Nguyen; Ulrike Grote |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the factors affecting the decision of migrants to return home in rural areas and their length of stay in cities with a focus on shocks and rural development policies. We use the unique Thailand Vietnam Socio Economic Panel (TVSEP) data. Our results reveal that the decision to return is positively associated with demographic shocks and negatively associated with social shocks during the time migrants stay in the cities. Meanwhile, economic shocks positively influence migrants’ staying period in the cities. Besides, migrants from poor communes with poverty reduction projects are more unlikely to return. This implies that current rural development policies in Vietnam with a goal of poverty reduction might not be attractive enough for migrants to return. |
| Keywords: | Two-step Heckman selection, Shocks; Rural-urban migration, Migrants’ behavior, Rural development |
| JEL: | J62 D13 O13 Q12 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tvs:wpaper:wp-018&r=all |
| By: | Simone Bertolia; Frédéric Docquier; Hillel Rapoport; Ilse Ruyssen |
| Abstract: | We use a multilevel approach to characterize the relationship between weather shocks and (internal and international) migration intentions. We combine individual survey data on migration intentions with measures of localized weather shocks for Western African countries over 2008-2016. A meta-analysis on results from about 310,000 regressions is conducted to identify the specification of weather anoma-lies that maximizes the goodness of fit of our empirical model. We then use this best specification to document heterogeneous mobility responses to weather shocks, which can be due to differences in long-term climatic conditions, migration percep- tions, or adaptation capabilities. We find that droughts are associated with a higher probability of migration intentions in Senegal, Niger and Ivory Coast. The effect on international migration intentions are only significant in Niger. These effects are amplified, but qualitatively similar, when restricting the sample to rural low-skilled respondents. |
| Keywords: | International Migration;Migration intentions;Individual-level Data;Weather Shocks;Western Africa |
| JEL: | F22 J61 O13 O15 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cii:cepidt:2020-02&r=all |
| By: | Tongtong Hao; Ruiqi Sun; Trevor Tombe; Xiaodong Zhu |
| Abstract: | Between 2000 and 2015, China's aggregate income quadrupled, its provincial income inequality fell by a third, and its share of employment in agriculture fell by half. Worker migration is central to this transformation, with almost 300 million workers living and working outside their area or sector of hukou registration by 2015. Combining rich individual-level data on worker migration with a spatial general equilibrium model of China's economy, we estimate the reductions in internal migration costs between 2000 and 2015, and quantify the contributions of these cost reductions to economic growth, structural change, and regional income convergence. We find that over the fifteen-year period China's internal migration costs fell by forty-five percent, with the cost of moving from agricultural rural areas to non-agricultural urban ones falling even more. In addition to contributing substantially to growth, these migration cost changes account for the majority of the reallocation of workers out of agriculture and the drop in regional inequality. We compare the effect of migration policy changes with other important economic factors, including changes in trade costs, capital market distortions, average cost of capital, and productivity. While each contributes meaningfully to growth, migration policy is central to China's structural change and regional income convergence. We also find the recent slow-down in aggregate economic growth between 2010 and 2015 is associated with smaller reduction in inter-provincial migration costs and a larger role of capital accumulation. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Structural Change, Regional Income Convergence, China |
| JEL: | E24 J61 O15 O41 O47 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2020–02–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-659&r=all |
| By: | Malakhov, Vladimir (Малахов, Владимир) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration); Novikov, Kirill (Новиков, Кирилл) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration); Timoshkin, Dmitriy (Тимошкин, Дмитрий) (Irkutsk State University); Simon, Mark (Симон, Марк) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration); Letnyakov, Denis (Летняков, Денис) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration); Motin, Alexander (Мотин, Александр) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) |
| Abstract: | Migrants and their descendants are often categorized as «other» by bureaucratic institutions, politicians and the media, despite the fact that many of the people who fall into this category (especially those from the “second” and “third” generations) are well integrated in the host country institutions. As a result, an inadequate picture of social tensions and contradictions existing in society is formed: frequently those complicated relations are reduced to the confrontation between the “host community”, on the one hand, and “migrants,” on the other. Due to this, it seems highly relevant to study the socio-political and cultural activity of individuals with immigrant background in all the diversity of its forms. The success of the policy of social integration highly depends on understanding in which environment migrants and their descendants interact with representatives of other communities. |
| Keywords: | political participation, political mobilization, migrant parties, migrant organizations, political integration |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:012003&r=all |
| By: | Mkrtchan, Nikita (Мкртчян, Никита) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration); Florinskaya, Yulia (Флоринская, Юлия) (The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) |
| Abstract: | Based on a standardized interview method, a representative survey of 2,400 households in four medium-sized cities (600 households each) - Velikiye Luki, Pskov Region, Michurinsk, Tambov Region, Buzuluk, Orenburg Region, and Chistopol, Republic of Tatarstan, revealed estimates of the prevalence of labor migration in households of cities of this type. The main comparative characteristics of the households of labor migrants and households whose members do not participate in labor migration are analyzed, to assess the role of field work as a source of household income. The results are compared with a similar method of interviewing households in small towns conducted in 2015 by the INSAP RANEPA. The study also used the results of a survey of 285 labor migrants from medium-sized cities conducted as part of the same study and materials from semi-structured in-depth interviews with 40 labor migrants from the same medium-sized cities. Their analysis revealed the costs of labor migration and the reasons for the refusal of residents of medium-sized cities to work away. |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:wpaper:012002&r=all |
| By: | Ambler, Kate |
| Abstract: | Emigration from the countries of Central America has evolved since the 1960s from small numbers of largely intra-regional emigrants to substantial numbers of people, emigrating in large part to the United States. For example, in 1960, 69 percent of emigrants from El Salvador resided in Honduras and only 12 percent lived in the United States. By 2000, 88 percent of Salvadoran emigrants in the world lived in the United States. |
| Keywords: | CENTRAL AMERICA, LATIN AMERICA, migration, emigration, migrants, remittances, |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:lacwps:4&r=all |
| By: | Darius Li (Research and Statistics Group); Fatih Karahan |
| Abstract: | Geographic mobility is thought to be important both for economic mobility and for the efficiency of a labor market in allocating the right people to the right jobs. Accordingly, the willingness of the U.S. workforce to move is a factor behind the greater dynamism of the U.S. labor market compared to Europe. While Europeans tend to be more reluctant to move to distant places within their respective countries, the idea of moving across state borders for a job has been woven into the fabric of the American Dream. However, the image of the United States as a mobile nation has changed substantially over recent decades. This post investigates the role that demographic shifts?in particular, the nation?s aging population?have played in the recent decline in interstate migration. |
| Keywords: | labor market; dynamism; migration; demographics |
| JEL: | J00 R1 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fednls:87158&r=all |
| By: | Hugo Rojas-Romagosa (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis); Johannes Bollen (CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis) |
| Abstract: | We estimate the impact of the free movement of people (FMP) principle on bilateral intra-EU migration stocks using a gravity model. Employing a combination of the World Bank and the UN’s global migration databases, with observations between 1960 and 2015, allows us to analyse the impact of the FMP for most EU member states. We find that implementing the FMP by an EU member state increased, on average, its stock of intra-EU migrants by 28%. |
| JEL: | F22 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpb:discus:385.rdf&r=all |
| By: | Christiaensen,Luc; Gonzalez,Alvaro S.; Robalino,David A. |
| Abstract: | With an estimated 724 million extreme poor people living in developing countries, and the world's demographics bifurcating into an older North and a younger South, there are substantial economic incentives and benefits for people to migrate. There are also important market and regulatory failures that constrain mobility and reduce the net benefits of migration. This paper reviews the recent literature and proposes a conceptual framework for better integration and coordination of policies that can address the different market and regulatory failures. The paper advances five types of interventions in need of particular attention in design, implementation, and evaluation; namely, (1) active labor market programs that serve local, regional, and foreign markets; (2) remittances and investment subsidies to promote job creation and labor productivity growth; (3) social insurance programs that cover all jobs and facilitate labor mobility; (4) labor taxes to internalize the social costs of migration in receiving regions; and (5) more flexible private sector driven schemes to regulate the flow of migrants and minimize irregular migration. |
| Keywords: | Labor Markets,Rural Labor Markets,Educational Sciences |
| Date: | 2019–05–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:8867&r=all |