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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Cristina Cattaneo (RFF-CMCC); Daniela Grieco (University of Milan) |
| Abstract: | The way we collectively discuss migration shapes citizens’ perceptions of migrants and their influence on our society. This paper investigates whether a narrative about the positive impact of immigrants on the hosting economy affects natives’ behaviour towards migrants. To shed light on the underlying mechanism, we present a simple theoretical framework that models the relationship between beliefs, attitude and behaviour and identifies the sequential channels through which a narrative might be useful in changing attitude and behaviour. We test its predictions through an online survey experiment, where we deliver UK natives a favourable narrative about migrants. Treated subjects revise their beliefs about migrants and exhibit significantly more positive self-reported attitudes and more pro-migrant behaviour. Moreover, they update beliefs in a way that gives support to the existence of confirmation bias. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Survey experiment, Narrative, Attitudes, Beliefs |
| JEL: | C90 D83 F22 J15 |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2021&r=all |
| By: | Alrababa'h, Ala'; Masterson, Daniel (University of California, Santa Barbara); Casalis, Marine; Hangartner, Dominik; Weinstein, Jeremy |
| Abstract: | Despite the importance of understanding how refugee crises end, little is known about when and why refugees return home. We study the drivers of refugees’ decision-making using original observational and experimental data from a representative sample of 3,003 Syrian refugees in Lebanon. We find that conditions in a refugee’s home country are the primary drivers of return intentions. Refugees’ decisions are influenced primarily by safety and security in their place of origin, their economic prospects, the availability of public services, and their personal networks. Confidence in information is also important, as several drivers of return only impact intentions among people who have high confidence in their information. By contrast, the conditions in refugee–hosting countries––so-called “push” factors––play a much smaller role. Even in the face of hostility and poor living conditions, refugees are unlikely to return unless the situation at home improves significantly. |
| Date: | 2020–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:7t2wd&r=all |
| By: | Carlos Garriga; Aaron Hedlund; Yang Tang; Ping Wang |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a dynamic competitive spatial equilibrium framework to evaluate the contribution of rural-urban migration induced by structural transformation to the behavior of Chinese housing markets. In the model, technological progress drives workers facing heterogeneous mobility costs to migrate from the rural agricultural sector to the higher paying urban manufacturing sector. Upon arrival to the city, workers purchase housing using long-term mortgages. Quantitatively, the model fits cross-sectional house price behavior across a representative sample of Chinese cities between 2003 and 2015. The model is then used to evaluate how changes to city migration policies and land supply regulations affect the speed of urbanization and house price appreciation. The analysis indicates that making migration policy more egalitarian or land policy more uniform would promote urbanization but also would contribute to larger house price dispersion. |
| JEL: | O11 R21 R23 R31 |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28013&r=all |
| By: | Jiang, Shiyu |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the difference in task supplies and economic status between natives and two generations of immigrants. I estimate differences in task supply and earnings between natives and immigrants in 1970 and 2015, which are the beginning and end of the fifth (and current) wave of immigration to Canada. Furthermore, using a three-fold Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, I link the average weekly wage of workers to their task productivity, and try to find the effects of the returns to tasks as well as different task supplies on the average wage gap between natives and immigrants. Finally, I use ordered probit and logit models to demonstrate and measure the significant effects of immigrant status on an employee’s labor market segment. 1 |
| Keywords: | immigration generations, wage difference decomposition, task specialization |
| JEL: | J1 J24 J3 |
| Date: | 2020–11–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:103990&r=all |
| By: | Michel Beine |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I propose to isolate the role of age as a self-selection factor of international migration. The role of age is estimated on intended emigration rather than on observed outcomes of migration, using individual measures of intended emigration drawn from a large-scale survey conducted by Gallup. I find evidence that age has a monotonic negative effect on desired emigration for the working-age population. The estimations point to a very robust effect, suggesting that an additional year of age decreases the probability of intended emigration by about 0.5%. This effect is steady over different periods of time and for most types of countries of origin. The results contrast with previous evidence obtained on observed outcomes of migration, suggesting that out-selection factors interact with age and shape the demographic profile of migrants. |
| Keywords: | age, international migration, intended emigration, logit, large-scale survey |
| JEL: | F22 C25 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8688&r=all |
| By: | Cristelli, Gabriele; Lissoni, Francesco |
| Abstract: | We study the innovation effects of the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons (AFMP), signed by Switzerland and the EU in 1999. Using geocoded patent data, complemented by matched inventor-immigrant-census records, we identify a large number of cross-border inventors (CBIs), commuters from neighbouring countries working in Swiss R&D labs. We show that, during the AFMP implementation phase, the influx of CBIs increased differentially across regions at different driving distances from the border. That caused a 24% increase in patents, mostly due to large and medium patent holders (as opposed to very large ones) and to inventor teams mixing CBIs and natives. The latter were not displaced and increased their productivity, thanks to complementarity between their knowledge assets and those of CBIs. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Innovation, Patents, Inventors, Free Movement of Persons |
| JEL: | F22 J61 O31 O33 |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:104120&r=all |
| By: | Jiang, Shiyu |
| Abstract: | This paper uses Canadian census data to undertake research on the effects of immigration onemployees’ performance in the Canadian labor market. By generating a new method to definecommunication and manual tasks, this paper concentrates on changes in task supplies in the labormarket resulting from changes in immigration to Canada. This paper also studies the effects ofa change in the foreign-born worker share on task compensations. In this paper, the Canadianlabor market is separated into two groups based on workers’ educational attainments, and thesetwo groups have different reactions to an increase in the share of immigrant workers in the labormarket. Using a regression model, I estimate compensations for communication and manual tasksrespectively to study how relative compensation variation is affected by the foreign-born workershare. I find some important evidence of immigration effects on the Canadian labor market, andthese effects vary across metropolitan areas and years. The increase in the foreign born share willlead both the relative supply of communication versus manual tasks and the relative compensationsof these tasks to go up in the highly-educated workers group. However, the Canadian immigrationdoes not impact the less-educated group quite significantly because of the smaller size of this groupin the labor market |
| Keywords: | Immigration, relative wage differences, task specialization |
| JEL: | J1 J15 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2020–11–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:103988&r=all |
| By: | Cem Özgüzel (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides the first direct evidence on how the geographical mobility of immigrants cushions natives during a labor demand shock. Spain was one of the hardest-hit economies during the Great Recession. Faced with a drop in the local labor demand, immigrant workers moved within Spain or left the country, generating significant decreases in local labor supply. Focusing on this episode, I use microdata from municipal registers and longitudinal Spanish administrative data to study the effects of outflow of the immigrant population from provinces on the wages and employment of the natives. I build a shift-share instrument based on the past settlements of the immigrant population across Spain to instrument outflows and argue for a causal relationship. I find that outflow of immigrants slowed down the decline in employment and wage of natives, especially of those with higher substitutability with immigrants. Moreover, I find that increased transitions from unemployment and inactivity to employment drive the positive employment effects, while wage effects are limited to those who were already employed. These findings reveal that the higher geographical mobility of immigrants cushions the natives during a demand shock. |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-03000365&r=all |
| By: | Ankan Ghosh (Madras School of Economics, Chennai, India); Zareena Begum Irfan (Associate Professor, Madras School of Economics, Chennai, India) |
| Abstract: | In the age of globalization international is an important phenomenon that we notice worldwide. International migration can happen for various reasons an there effect on the native country may be positive or negative and that is a matter of discussion. In this paper it is considered that migration happens for economic reason as well as social reasons. Economic reason may be better availability of jobs in other countries and a scope of greater income streams. Social factors include vulnerability in the native country due to political unrest, environmental damage factors and other social detentions in the native place. The paper discusses these factors as human rights, the unavailability of which will instigate people to migrate. The paper uses evidence from two countries- Bangladesh and Myanmar to see the same. A two country panel model was set up to get results which show that a tradeoff between the aforementioned rights and economic variables exists. |
| Keywords: | Migration, migration, human rights, labours, socio-economic |
| JEL: | J7 J61 F66 I3 Y4 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mad:wpaper:2020-188&r=all |
| By: | Arsen, Celia |
| Abstract: | This thesis examines the relationship between gender-based occupational segregation and gender-based residential patterns. Specifically, it finds that that Irish-born immigrants were more likely to be employed in highly gender-segregated occupations than their German-born counterparts. This had a spatial impact on the residential patterns of Irish-born men and women. Because Irish-born immigrants tended to work in highly gender-segregated occupations that were located in different parts of the city, Irish-born men and women disproportionately lived in different areas. The paper discusses some of the historical and contextual factors that explain why Irish-born women were more likely than German-born women to go into highly gender-segregated occupations. Lastly, it shows how this relationship between occupational segregation and geography impacted the economic life cycles of these immigrant women. In particular, it identifies the rate at which women left the workforce after getting married or having children. |
| Date: | 2020–11–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:s4jvz&r=all |
| By: | Boll, Christina; Lagemann, Andreas; Welsch, Achim; Wolf, André |
| Abstract: | Several EU Member States have traditionally been a destination for migrants, whether they come from within the EU or elsewhere in the world. The flow of migrants has led to a range of new skills and talents being introduced into local labour markets while also increasing cultural diversity. The relevance of a stronger integration of migrants into the labour markets and societal lives of host countries exists from both a macroe-conomic and an individual perspective. |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwwipp:n127&r=all |
| By: | Scandura, Alessandra; Bolzani, Daniela (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the importance of the network of collaborations with other firms, research institutions, and business associations as key drivers of innovation, providing a comparison between immigrant-owned firms and non-immigrant-owned firms. We hypothesise that the network of collaboration is more important for innovative activities of immigrant entrepreneurs than for natives, due to their migrant condition, and that immigrant entrepreneurs’ acculturation to the host country culture moderates the influence of such network. We test our hypotheses on a unique matched-pair sample of immigrant and native domestic entrepreneurs active in high-tech mainstream (non-ethnic) markets. Our results show that universities and research institutions along with business associations are more important for immigrant-owned companies; we further show that immigrant entrepreneurs’ acculturation to the host country culture acts as a substitute for interactions with business associations. These findings are highly relevant for the academic and policy discourses on the link between immigrant entrepreneurship and innovation in developed countries. |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:202021&r=all |
| By: | A. Stefano Caria |
| Abstract: | We introduce a novel adaptive targeted treatment assignment methodology for field experiments. Our Tempered Thompson Algorithm balances the goals of maximizing the precision of treatment effect estimates and maximizing the welfare of experimental participants. A hierarchical Bayesian model allows us to adaptively target treatments. We implement our methodology in Jordan, testing policies to help Syrian refugees and local jobseekers to find work. The immediate employment impacts of a small cash grant, information and psychological support are close to zero, but targeting raises employment by 1 percentage-point (20%). After four months, cash has a sizable effect on employment and earnings of Syrians. |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2020-20&r=all |