|
on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Wiedner, Jonas; Schaeffer, Merlin (WZB Berlin Social Science Center) |
| Abstract: | Social science research demonstrates that dispersal policies and restrictions on the freedom of residence have inhibited refugees’ socio-economic integration. The dominant explanation is that such policies prevent refugees from moving to places where they can employ their skills most fruitfully. However, previous studies of refugees’ actual residential choices in Europe provide little evidence that refugees move to places with good employment prospects. The combination of negative effects of residence restrictions and emerging evidence of disadvantaging secondary migration forms what we call the ‘refugee mobility puzzle’. In this study, we address this puzzle and ask: What attracts refugees to deprived areas, and can their seemingly unfortunate residential choices be understood as moves to labor market opportunity after all? Empirically, we draw on the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees, track the location of more than 2, 500 refugee respondents, and estimate discrete choice models across all German counties and postcodes. Our results confirm the existence of the refugee-mobility puzzle and complicate recent critiques of dispersal policies and restrictions by suggesting that refugees’ need for affordable housing and their desire to be close to (co-ethnic) friends and family may turn into an unintended lock-in factor in the mid- and long-run. |
| Date: | 2023–01–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:rnzbc&r=mig |
| By: | Lorenzo Caliendo; Luca David Opromolla; Fernando Parro; Alessandro Sforza |
| Abstract: | European countries experienced a large increase in labor supply due to the influx of Ukrainian refugees after the 2022 Russia invasion. We study its dynamic effects in a spatial model with forward-looking households of different skills, trade, and endogenous capital accumulation. We find that real GDP increases in Europe in the long term, with large distributional effects across countries and skill groups. In the short run, an increase in the supply of labor strains the use of capital structures that takes time to build. Over time, countries that build capital structures increase output, resulting in potential long run benefits. |
| JEL: | F1 F16 |
| Date: | 2023–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30879&r=mig |
| By: | Maimuna Ibraimo; Eva-Maria Egger |
| Abstract: | Internal migration plays an important role in the economic development of individuals, their families, and their country. This study describes Mozambique's most common migration patterns from 1992 until 2017 using data from three population censuses. We focus on the most important moves between regions, provinces, and rural and urban areas. Further, we document the characteristics of migrants to assess selection patterns. In the final step, we estimate the relationship between migration and multidimensional poverty by applying inverse probability weighted regression adjustment (IPWRA). |
| Keywords: | Internal migration, Migration, Mozambique, Poverty, Regression analysis |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2023-16&r=mig |
| By: | Amare, Mulubrhan; Abay, Kibrom A.; Chamberlin, Jordan |
| Abstract: | We combine nationally representative data from Nigeria with spatiotemporal data from remote sensing and other sources to study how young migrants respond to observable characteristics of potential destinations, both in absolute terms and relative to origin locations. Migrants prefer destinations with better welfare, land availability and intensity of economic activity. We also find that migrants prefer shorter distances and those destinations with better urban amenities and infrastructure. However, responses vary by type of migrant and migration. For example, rural-rural migrants are more responsive to land availability and agricultural potential, while rural-urban and urban-urban migrants are more responsive to welfare and economic vibrancy (measured by nightlight intensity) in destinations. Distance induces varying impact on migration choices of poor and non-poor migrants as well as across more educated and less educated migrants. Longer distances discourage migration for female migrants, poorer migrants and less educated migrant while the implication for the non-poor and more educated migrants appears to be negligible. This is intuitive because poorer and less educated migrants have liquidity constraints to finance high migration costs. Our results suggest potential scope for predicting how labor mobility responds to alternative regional development policies. |
| Keywords: | NIGERIA; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; data; data analysis; destinations; development policies; economics; educational opportunities; labour; land; land access; migration; migrants; provenance; remote sensing; welfare; spatiotemporal data |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2160&r=mig |
| By: | Jerg Gutmann; Léa Marchal; Betül Simsek |
| Abstract: | This is the first global study of how institutionally entrenched gender discrimination affects the gender migration gap (GMG) using data on 158 origin and 37 destination countries over the period 1961-2019. We estimate a gravity equation derived from a random utility maximization model of migration that accounts for migrants’ gender. Instrumental variable estimates indicate that increasing gender equality in economic or political rights generally deepens the GMG, i.e., it reduces female emigration relative to that of men. In line with our theoretical model, this average effect is driven by higher-income countries. In contrast, increased gender equality in rights reduces the GMG in lower-income countries by facilitating female emigration. |
| Keywords: | discrimination, gender equality, individual rights, migration, RUM model |
| JEL: | F22 J16 J71 K38 O15 P48 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10222&r=mig |
| By: | Catia Batista; Jules Gazeaud; Julia Seither |
| Abstract: | International migration can contribute importantly to sustainable economic growth. The effects of migration for both origin and host countries, however, depend on immigrant integration. We experimentally evaluate the impact of information and migrants’ aspirations on immigrant integration using a field experiment among Cape Verdean immigrants in Portugal. The interventions promote integration outcomes such as migration status regularization and better quality employment of migrants. They furthermore affect those left behind. While the impact on material remittances is muted, targeting migrant integration barriers improves democratic processes and attitudes over gender equity in origin countries. In addition, providing immigrants with better information sources about integration processes affects migration intentions and expectations of prospective migrants. |
| Keywords: | Irregular migration, Integration, Remittances, Field experiment |
| JEL: | O12 O15 F22 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:novafr:wp2205&r=mig |
| By: | Catia Batista; Ana Beatriz Gomes |
| Abstract: | Full access to healthcare is an important driver of immigrant integration. Existing literature shows that there are multiple de facto barriers for migrants to access healthcare even when they are legally entitled to them. This paper examines how time since arrival impacts immigrants’ access to healthcare, a novel research question adding to the existing literature on migrant assimilation. We use survey data collected from about 800 Cape Verdean immigrants in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. The findings show that immigrants do assimilate in terms of access to healthcare. These results are robust when controlling for sample selection. |
| Keywords: | Migration, Integration, Assimilation, Healthcare, Cape Verde, Portugal |
| JEL: | O15 F22 J61 I15 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:novafr:wp2208&r=mig |
| By: | Catia Batista; Rita Neves |
| Abstract: | Immigrant integration is an inherently stressful process that implies psychological challenges. To moderate the impact of the post-migration stressors, social support may play an important role. Using survey data on recently arrived Cape-Verdean migrants in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, we analyse the role of both destination and home social networks on migrants’ mental health. We find that destination networks significantly reduce overall anxiety and female migrants’ emotional distress. However, larger home networks lead to an increase in overall anxiety and are associated with poorer mental health indicators for female migrants, who may be subject to larger pressure to send financial remittances back home. However, home networks have a positive effect in reducing male migrants’ emotional distress. |
| Keywords: | International migration, Immigration, Mental health, Social networks, Gender, Cape-Verde, Portugal |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:novafr:wp2204&r=mig |
| By: | Glenn Rayp; Ilse Ruyssen; Samuel Standaert (-) |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces a new set of comprehensive and cross-country-comparable indexes of migration policy selectivity. Crucially, these reflect the multidimensional nature of the differential treatment of migrants. We use these indexes to study the evolution of migration policy selectivity and estimate how they affect migration flows. Combining all publicly available and relevant data since WWII, we build three composite indexes that identify selectivity in terms of skills, economic resources and nationality. First, we use these to characterise migration policies in 42 countries between 1990 and 2014. Second, we analyse the effectiveness of migration policy selectivity by estimating its impact on migration flows. Each of the three dimensions of selectivity is found to affect the size and structure of migration flows significantly. |
| Keywords: | Migration Policy, International Migration, Selectivity, Effectiveness |
| JEL: | F22 C43 P16 C32 |
| Date: | 2023–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rug:rugwps:23/1062&r=mig |
| By: | David Autor; David Dorn; Gordon H. Hanson |
| Abstract: | Previous research finds that the greater geographic mobility of foreign than native-born workers following economic shocks helps to facilitate local labor market adjustment to shifting regional economic conditions. We examine the role that immigration may have played in enabling U.S. commuting zones to respond to manufacturing job loss caused by import competition from China. Although population headcounts of the foreign-born fell by more than those of the native-born in regions exposed to the China trade shock, the overall contribution of immigration to labor market adjustment in this episode was small. Because most U.S. immigrants arrived in the country after manufacturing regions were already mature, few took up jobs in industries that would later see increased import penetration from China. The foreign-born share of the working-age population in regions with high trade exposure was only three-fifths that in regions with low exposure. Immigration thus appears more likely to aid adjustment to cyclical shocks, in which job loss occurs in regions that had recent booms in hiring, rather than facilitating adjustment to secular regional decline, in which hiring booms occurred in the more distant past. |
| JEL: | E24 F14 F16 J23 J31 L60 O47 R12 R23 |
| Date: | 2023–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30904&r=mig |
| By: | Moshe Buchinsky (UCLA - University of California [Los Angeles] - UC - University of California, NBER - National Bureau of Economic Research [New York] - NBER - The National Bureau of Economic Research, ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Chemi Gotlibovski (MTA - The Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo); Osnat Lifshitz (Reichman University [Herzliya]) |
| Abstract: | We estimated two dynamic programing models, one for men and one for women, on a sample of immigrants who arrived in Israel from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) between 1989 and 1995. Following the literature, we assume that the household maximizes its expected utility based only on the husband's human capital. Therefore, the family's residential location decision is based on the husband's labor market opportunities. We study the potential effect of this assumed behavior on the labor market's gender gaps. In the model estimated for men, we endogenize the decisions regarding residential location, employment location, and occupational choices. In contrast, in the model estimated for women the family's residential location is taken as given. Using the estimated parameters from the two models and a number of counterfactual simulations, we are able to decompose the observed gender wage gap into two parts–one based on behavioral differences and the other based on the lower labor market returns for women. The simulations indicate that if women had the same labor market returns and the same preferences as men, their outcomes would have been similar to those of men. Moreover, the simulations show that even without any changes in their labor market conditions, women would have gained in terms of both job quality and wages if the family's residential location was based on their human capital. |
| Keywords: | Family migration, Gender wage gap, Household Labor Supply, Residential Location |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:spmain:hal-03925781&r=mig |
| By: | Simonson, Matthew J. |
| Abstract: | In December of 2017, President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA). While the law made several changes to the tax code, one major change was instituting a cap on the amount of state and local tax (SALT) deductions a filer can claim. The SALT cap limits a tax filer’s ability to limit the impacts of state and local taxes on their overall tax burden. This new inability to soften the impact of state and local taxes could cause residents to view states with higher taxes as less attractive. The results presented in this paper showed a state’s top income tax rate and a state’s representative tax burden had a statistically significant negative effect on the probability of a household living in a new state after the SALT cap was implemented. This effect was statistically different than the negative impact of the tax measure before the passing. Suggesting, for households of varying income levels, if a state were to increase the top income tax rate by 10 percentage points the probability of a household moving to that state would decrease, on the low end 0.17 percentage points and on the high end 0.52 percentage points more than if the SALT cap was not in place. Larger impacts were found for the representative tax burden measure, where for a 10% increase in the state tax burden the probability of a household moving to the state would fall by 0.57 percentage points on the low end and 0.87 percentage points on the high end. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Public Economics |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:umapmt:330265&r=mig |
| By: | Chiara Fratto; Hussein Bidawi; Paola Aliperti F. Domingues; Ms. Nicole Laframboise |
| Abstract: | In contrast to expectations, remittances to Central America and the Caribbean (CAC) surprised positively during 2020 and 2021. This study revisits the key macro indicators driving remittances, looks at the heterogeneous impacts of the global financial crisis (GFC) and COVID shocks, then uses micro data from the U.S. Current Population Census to examine individual features of immigrant households and how this might affect the “propensity to remit”. The paper finds that remittance flows are responsive to both sending and receiving country economic conditions and that labor market conditions are particularly important determinants of remittance flows, explaining the unexpected jump in remittance flows in 2020-2021 and providing stronger predictive power when combined with income variables. Analysis of the micro data reinforces these findings, reflecting the existence of a family resource sharing model at play. |
| Keywords: | Migrant remittances; covid-19 pandemic; global financial crisis; elasticities.; remittance flow; micro data; labor market condition; IMF working papers; remittances to Central America and the Caribbean; migrant remittance; Remittances; Migration; Income; Labor markets; Central America; Caribbean; Global |
| Date: | 2022–09–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2022/203&r=mig |