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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Gianmarco Daniele; Marco Le Moglie; Federico Masera |
| Abstract: | The opioid epidemic and migration along the US–Mexico border are two of the most-debated policy issues in recent US politics. We show how these two topics are interlinked: the US opioid epidemic generated large Mexican migration flows. We exploit the fact that in 2010, a series of reforms to the US health care system resulted in a shift in demand from legal opiates to heroin. This demand shock had considerable effects on Mexico, the main supplier of heroin consumed in the US. Violence and conflicts increased in Mexican municipalities suitable for opium production, as they became highly valuable to drug cartels. People migrated out of these municipalities to escape this violence, mostly to areas close to the US border and into the US. The rise in US demand for heroin increased internal migration by an estimated 90,000 individuals and migration across the border at least by 12,000. |
| Keywords: | opioid crisis, migration, violence, organized crime, Mexico |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:baf:cbafwp:cbafwp20141&r=all |
| By: | Brian Knight; Ana María Tribín-Uribe (Banco de la República de Colombia) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the link between violent crime and immigration using data from Colombian municipalities during the recent episode of immigration from Venezuela. The key finding is that, following the closing and then re-opening of the border in 2016, which precipitated a massive immigration wave, homicides in Colombia increased in areas close to the border with Venezuela. Using information on the nationality of the victim, we find that this increase was driven by homicides involving Venezuelan victims, with no evidence of a statistically significant increase in homicides in which Colombians were victimized. Thus, in contrast to xenophobic fears that migrants might victimize natives, it was migrants, rather than natives, who faced risks associated with immigration. Using arrests data, there is no corresponding increase in arrests for homicides in these areas. Taken together, these results suggest that the increase in homicides close to the border documented here are driven by crimes against migrants and have occurred without a corresponding increase in arrests, suggesting that some of these crimes have gone unsolved. **** ABSTRACT: Este artículo investiga el vínculo entre el crimen violento y la inmigración utilizando datos de municipios colombianos durante el reciente episodio de la diáspora venezolana. Los resultados indican que los homicidios aumentaron en áreas cercanas a la frontera con Venezuela luego del cierre y la reapertura de la frontera en 2016, que precipitó una ola masiva de inmigración. Usando información sobre la nacionalidad de las víctimas, encontramos que este aumento se debe a homicidios que involucraron a víctimas venezolanas, sin evidencia de un aumento estadísticamente significativo de homicidios en los que los colombianos fueron víctimas. Por lo tanto, en contraste con las percepciones negativas sobre inmigrantes: fueron los migrantes, y no los nativos, quienes enfrentaron los riesgos asociados con la inmigración. Usando datos de arrestos, no encontramos un aumento correspondiente en capturas por homicidios en estas áreas. Tomados en conjunto, estos resultados sugieren que el aumento de los homicidios cerca de la frontera documentado en este artículo se deben principalmente a crimenes contra los migrantes y que se han producido en un entorno donde el arresto no refleja el mismo aumento, lo que sugiere que es posible que algunos de estos crimenes queden sin resolver. |
| Keywords: | Crime, Migration, Venezuela, Crimen, Migración, Venezuela |
| JEL: | J15 J18 K42 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdr:borrec:1121&r=all |
| By: | Matthew J. Baker (Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY) |
| Abstract: | The Age-Area Hypothesis (AAH) from historical linguistics is an often-used tool in reconstructing the current and past geographical distribution of culture. The AAH states that the point of origin of a group of related cultures is likely where the group's languages are most divergent or most diverse. In spite of its wide application, the hypothesis is imprecise and completely unfounded in any theory. I describe a model of the AAH based on an economic theory of mass migrations. The theory leads to a family of measures of cultural divergence, which I refer to as Dyen divergence measures after Dyen (1956). I use one measure to prove an Age-Area Theorem. The associated theory allows computation of the likelihood different locations are origin points for a group of related cultures, and can be applied recursively to yield probabilities of different historical migratory paths and timings of migratory events. The theory suggests an Occam's razor-like result in that migratory paths that are simplest are also the most likely. The paper concludes with an application to the geographical origins of the peoples speaking Semitic languages. |
| Keywords: | comparative linguistics, age-area hypothesis cultural evolution, mass migration, long-run growth |
| JEL: | D01 J11 J15 N9 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:htr:hcecon:451&r=all |
| By: | László Czaller (Agglomeration and Social Networks Lendület Research Group, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Budapest, H-1097, Hungary and Department of Regional Science, ELTE University, Budapest, H-1117, Hungary); Rikard Eriksson (Department of Geography, Umea University, Umea, SE-901 87, Sweden and Centre for Regional Science at Umea University, Umea, SE-901 87, Sweden); Author-Name:Balázs Lengyel (Agglomeration and Social Networks Lendület Research Group, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Budapest, H-1097, Hungary and Centre for Advanced Studies, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, H-1093, and Department of Regional Science, ELTE University, Budapest, H-1117, Hungary) |
| Abstract: | Automation risk of workers prevails less in large cities compared to small cities, but little is known about the drivers of this emerging urban phenomenon. We examine the role of cities on changes in automation risk through individual careers of workers by separating labour mobility to a city from labour mobility within a city. Applying panel data representing all Swedish workers from 2005 to 2013 we provide new evidence that working in, or moving to, metropolitan areas lower automation risk of workers. We find that high-skilled workers enjoy dynamic occupation upgrades in cities and benefit from accumulating experience in the urban labour market, while low-skilled workers experience a single static upgrade when moving to a city. |
| Keywords: | automation risk, metropolitan regions, career upgrade, labour mobility |
| JEL: | J23 J24 J62 R23 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:has:discpr:2030&r=all |
| By: | Claire MacPherson; Olivier Sterck |
| Abstract: | Assistance to refugees living in camps is shifting from a humanitarian model, based on care and maintenance, to a development model that promotes refugee self-reliance through income-generating activities, market development, and cash transfers. Evidence on the effects of this paradigm shift is limited. Exploiting a regression discontinuity design, this paper tests whether the adoption of a development approach to refugee assistance in a new settlement in Kenya has a positive impact in the short run. We find that refugees benefiting from the new approach have better diets and perceive themselves as happier and more independent from humanitarian aid. We find no effect on assets and employment. These effects appear to be driven by the switch from food rations to cash transfers and by the wider promotion of kitchen gardens. Our findings argue in favor of the development approach to refugee assistance, which is cheaper and leads to better outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Refugees; Humanitarian aid, Self-reliance; Cash transfers; Agriculture; Kakuma; Kalobeyei |
| JEL: | O12 O15 I38 Q12 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2019-15&r=all |
| By: | Schneiderheinze, Claas; Lücke, Matthias |
| Abstract: | In this study, we review existing research, both theoretical and empirical, on the impact of forcibly displaced persons on residents' livelihoods in host communities in developing countries, with an emphasis on African experiences. An inflow of a large number of refugees represents a large challenge to any host community. This is especially true in developing countries with their limited financial and administrative capacities. Immediately, refugees require accommodation, housing, and key public services such as health care and education. Sooner or later, refugees will seek to provide for their own livelihood, look for work in the informal or formal labor market, and interact economically with the host economy in multiple ways. When developing countries host refugees, they receive financial and technical support from the international community. This support typically covers the subsistence needs of refugees and may also finance other host country expenditures related to their presence. We explain (Sections 2.1 and 2.2) why there is a strong presumption that, with sufficient international financial and technical support, the aggregate impact of refugees on the host community will be at least neutral and maybe even positive. The main insight is that refugees, equipped with international financial support, provide a stimulus to the local economy through their demand for locally produced goods and services, which translates into higher output prices, more demand for local workers, and higher real incomes. This presumption is borne out by the few existing empirical studies. |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:pegnps:032020&r=all |
| By: | Arnaud Herault (GRANEM - Groupe de Recherche Angevin en Economie et Management - UA - Université d'Angers - AGROCAMPUS OUEST - Institut National de l'Horticulture et du Paysage) |
| Abstract: | How does the social environment of immigrants influence the probability of being in an occupational mismatch situation? To answer this question, we use the Labor Force Survey (2005-2012) to assess the impact of peers and the neighborhood on the use of referees to find a job on the one hand, and the probability of being in occupational mismatch situation on the other hand. With a probit model, we estimate the probability of using a referee to find a job as well as the probability of being in an occupational mismatch situation for immigrants. Endogeneity is controlled with a recursive bivariate probit model for the use of a referee to find a job and the probability of being in an occupational mismatch situation. The results show that the neighborhood effect has a greater effect than the peer effect on using referees to find a job. Moreover, the role of the referee on the probability of being in an occupational mismatch situation is not homogeneous according to the origins. |
| Keywords: | Occupational mismatch,immigration,labor market,networks,neighborhood |
| Date: | 2019–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02860048&r=all |
| By: | Kaz Miyagiwa (Department of Economics, Florida International University, U.S.A.); Yunyun Wan (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University) |
| Abstract: | In the United States there are about 300 jurisdictions (cities, counties and states) today, which refuse to deport illegal immigrants even with criminal records. Do such sanctuary jurisdictions necessarily attract more illegal aliens, leading to higher unemployment and more crime compared with non-sanctuary jurisdictions? In this paper we investigate these questions in a model of equilibrium unemployment and find that sanctuary cities may have a smaller immigrant population and less crime compared with non-sanctuary cities. Examined also are the effects of raising minimum wages, anti-crime policies and provision of unemployment benefits to illegal immigrants. |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koe:wpaper:2012&r=all |
| By: | Kimberly Wong |
| Abstract: | This report provides a descriptive analysis of the labour market outcomes of new immigrants to Canada from 2006 to 2019. Using data from the Labour Force Survey, it focuses on four labour market indicators: participation, unemployment, and employment rates, as well as average hourly wages. It compares trends in labour market outcomes among very recent immigrants (5 years or less since immigration), recent immigrants (5-10 years since immigration), and Canadian-born workers. This report finds that new immigrants are on average younger and better educated than the Canadian-born. As a result, their labour force participation and employment rates were comparable to, if not better than, those of the Canadian-born. However, the unemployment rates of new immigrants were higher, and average hourly wages were lower. Over the 2006 to 2019 period, very recent immigrants enjoyed an absolute and relative improvement in all four indicators. Recent immigrants enjoyed an improvement in all four absolute indicators and three of four relative indicators; relative hourly wages were the exception. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Canada, Labour Market, Productivity, Wage Gap |
| JEL: | F62 O32 O51 O53 L60 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sls:resrep:1909&r=all |