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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | B. Sofia Gil-Clavel (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); André Grow (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Maarten J. Bijlsma (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | The increasingly complex and heterogeneous immigrant communities settling in Europe have led European countries to adopt civic-integration measures. Among these, measures that aim to facilitate language acquisition are often considered crucial for integration and cooperation between immigrants and natives. Simultaneously, the rapid expansion of the use of online social networks is believed to change the factors that affect immigrants’ language acquisition. However, so far, few studies have analyzed whether this is the case. This article uses a novel longitudinal data source derived from Twitter to: (1) analyze differences between destination-countries in the pace of immigrants’ language acquisition depending on the citizenship and civic-integration policies of those countries; and (2) study how the relative size of migrant groups in the destination-country, and the linguistic and geographical distance between origin- and destination countries, are associated with language acquisition. We focus on immigrants whose destination countries were in the EU-15 between 2012 and 2016. We study time until a user mostly tweets in the language of the destination-country for one month as a proxy of language acquisition using survival analysis. Results show that immigrants who live in countries with strict requirements for immigrants’ language acquisition and low levels of liberal citizenship policies have the highest median times of language acquisition. Furthermore, on social media such as Twitter, language acquisition is associated with classic explanatory variables, such as size of the immigrant group in the destination country, linguistic distance between origin- and destination-language, and geographical distance between origin- and destination-country. |
| Keywords: | European Union, computational social science, culture, immigration policy, international migration, languages |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2022-012&r= |
| By: | Deole, Sumit S.; Rieger, Marc Oliver |
| Abstract: | We present new descriptive evidence on the immigrant-native gap in risk and time preferences in Germany, one of the most preferred host countries for immigration. Using the recent waves of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) dataset, we find that the immigrant-native gap in risk preferences has widened for recent immigration cohorts, especially around the 2015 European Refugee Crisis. We attribute the recent widening to decreased assimilation rates of new immigrants caused by a reduced integration due to sudden increases in immigrants flows from culturally diverse parts of the world, particularly around the year 2015. We also find that the immigrant-native gap varies across different migrant groups: "Opportunity seekers", which we define as economic immigrants who intend to stay in Germany only temporarily, are very similar in their risk preferences to natives. Other immigrants, however, are substantially more risk-averse than natives. A smaller gap in risk preferences is also found among migrants who are female, highly educated, proficient in the host language, self-employed and working in predominantly high-skilled jobs. Concerning time preferences, although a noticeably large immigrant-native gap is evident, the gap is not found to vary across most individual-level socio-economic variables. |
| Keywords: | Risk aversion,time discounting,immigration,assimilation |
| JEL: | J61 D91 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1055&r= |
| By: | Michele Di Maio (Michele Di Maio); Francisco Fasani (Francisco Fasani); Valerio Leone Sciabolazza (Valerio Leone Sciabolazza); Vasco Molini (Vasco Molini) |
| Abstract: | We use novel survey data to assess the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the Libyan population. In our sample, 9.5% of respondents report that a household member has been infected by COVID 19, while 24.7% of them have suffered economic damages and 14.6% have experienced negative health effects due to the pandemic. Our analysis focuses on the differences between IDPs and non-displaced individuals, controlling for individuals and household characteristics, geo-localized measures of economic activity and conflict intensity. Displaced individuals do not experience higher incidence of COVID-19 relative to comparable non-displaced individuals, but are about 60% more likely than non-displaced respondents to report negative economic and health impacts caused by the pandemic. Our results suggest that the larger damages suffered by IDPs can be explained by their weaker economic status - which leads to more food insecurity and indebtedness - and by the discrimination they face in accessing health care. |
| Keywords: | Internally Displaced Persons, COVID-19, Debt, Health, Forced Migration, Conflict, Libya |
| JEL: | F22 J61 K37 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:2208&r= |
| By: | Sebastian Ottinger (Northwestern University); Michael Poyker (University of Nottingham) |
| Abstract: | Particular industries have dominated many locations in the United States for more than a century. We show that individuals residing in such locations were systematically less likely to move away from there during the past few decades. By identifying locations with sizable employment shares in the same manufacturing industries in 1870 and 1980, we documented less out-migration in the decades following 1980 than earlier. In response to the largest shock affecting manufacturing employment since then, these locations adjusted differently: the “China shock” led to higher unemployment in their communities, but fewer people moved away. Drawing on rich data of social links across counties and surveys of individuals residing there, we document that these individuals have stronger local friendship networks than residents of more thriving communities and exhibit systematic differences in their job-market search behavior. We hypothesize that when local opportunities narrow, residents of these locations both lack information about job opportunities elsewhere and benefit from the amenity value of extended social networks in their location of origin. Instrumental variable results based on a historical shock to local industries’ chances of survival suggest that the effect of dominant manufacturing industries on migration is causal. Mediation analysis reveals that the emergence of strong local ties primarily drives such migration. |
| Keywords: | Employment persistence, labor mobility, local ties |
| JEL: | J23 N31 N32 N71 N72 R12 Z1 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upj:weupjo:22-365&r= |
| By: | Ignaciuk, Ada; Kwon, Jihae; Maggio, Giuseppe; Mastrorillo, Marina; Sitko, Nicholas J. |
| Abstract: | This working paper merges socio-economic data with data on deforestation to explore the interrelationship between rural migration, the development of the commercial agricultural sector, and forest cover loss. Specifically, we test the role of cash crop producers and inter-district migrants on the tree loss in the parish of residence, while controlling for several other household-level and parish-level contributing factors of deforestation, including population density, proximity to markets and protected areas. Also, we investigate the agricultural channel, specifically producing cash crops, as one major channel through which inter-district migration affects deforestation. Our analysis aims to support the identification of policy strategies to reduce the adverse impacts of agricultural commercialization initiatives on Uganda’s critical natural resources; and identify policy options that maximize migrant’s benefits on recipient areas while minimizing downside risks of migration related to over-exploitation of resources and deforestation. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:faoaes:319838&r= |
| By: | Aiko Kikkawa (Asian Development Bank (ADB)); Raymond Gaspar (Asian Development Bank (ADB)); Cyn-Young Park (Asian Development Bank (ADB)) |
| Abstract: | International migration is considered an essential element of economic integration. Yet, the intraregional movement of people and labor in Asia and the Pacific has stagnated in recent years in contrast to the steadily rising flow of goods, services, and investment. This paper examines the key factors driving the movement of people from and within the region using bilateral international migrant stock data and evaluates whether some key indicators of economic integration between origin and destination economies have additive effects on this movement/these movements. Our analysis shows that commonly known determinants such as income differences; population size; and political, geographical, and cultural proximities between the migrant origin and destination countries are associated with greater movement, along with the growing share of older population in destination economies and the similarities in the level of educational attainment. The paper also finds that cross-border migration is affected, in varied directions, by the degree of economic integration between the origin and destination economies, especially through bilateral trade and value chain links. The offshoring of production—and hence jobs and other economic opportunities—to migrant origin countries suppresses outmigration, but the expected rise in the origin country income will eventually promote migration by relaxing financial constraints. |
| Keywords: | international migration, labor mobility, regional economic integration |
| JEL: | F22 O15 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eri:dpaper:2102&r= |
| By: | Cyn-Young Park (Asian Development Bank (ADB)) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we employed a composite index approach in assessing regional integration in Asia and the Pacific, with special focus on Northeast Asia. Findings suggest that the pace of integration in Northeast Asia is broadly trending upward over the 2006 – 2016 sample period, catching up to the level of most integrated region in Southeast Asia. Of the six dimensions featured in the composite index, we find that trade and investment and movement of people are the main drivers of regional integration, while the money and finance dimension was the weakest link. An in-depth analysis of Northeast Asia indicates that infrastructure and connectivity as well as institutional and social integration drive the subregion’s integration with entire Asia. By contrast, integration within the subregion is lowest in terms of institutional and social integration, suggesting the dearth of formal integration mechanisms in Northeast Asia. Finally, country-level analysis for the subregion suggests that higher-income economies (such as People’s Republic of China, Japan, and Republic of Korea) show in general a broader regional integration compared to more narrowly-based subregional integration in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Mongolia. |
| Keywords: | international migration, labor mobility, regional economic integration |
| JEL: | F22 O15 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eri:dpaper:2106&r= |
| By: | Olivier CHARLOT; Claire NAIDITCH; Radu VRANCEANU (Université de Cergy-Pontoise, THEMA) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a matching model à la Pissarides (2000) to analyze the migrant smuggling market, building on the empirical evidence related to the smuggling of migrants from the Horn of Africa and the Middle East to the European region in the last decade. The model allows us to determine the equilibrium numbers of smugglers and of incoming irregular migrants as well as the total migrant welfare. Most of the coercion-based measures targeting the smugglers achieve the reduction in the number of irregular migrants and smugglers at the expense of migrants’ overall welfare. Slightly increasing legal migration opportunities has the interesting feature of drastically reducing irregular flows, without deteriorating migrants’ welfare nor increasing the total number of migrants. The model reveals that an extremely restrictive asylum policy has similar effects in terms of the flows of irregular migrants as a quite loose one, with the largest flows of irregular migrants reached for a "middle-range" policy. Finally, the stay-home incentive of generous humanitarian policies might be partially offset by higher profits and a higher smuggling activity. |
| Keywords: | Migrant smuggling, Irregular migration, Matching model, Migrant welfare, Europe. |
| JEL: | F22 J46 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ema:worpap:2022-05&r= |
| By: | Vij, Akshay; Ardeshiri, Ali; Li, Tiebei; Beer, Andrew; Crommelin, Laura |
| Abstract: | This project examined the current mobility and settlement patterns across Australian metropolitan and regional areas; identify key drivers of population mobility to/from both metropolitan and regional areas; and measure the relative influence of different factors (e.g. employment, infrastructure) that support migration to regional areas. |
| Date: | 2022–03–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:fpxum&r= |