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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Boeri, Tito (Bocconi University); Gamalerio, Matteo (University of Barcelona); Morelli, Massimo (Bocconi University); Negri, Margherita (University of St. Andrews) |
| Abstract: | We study whether a better knowledge of the functioning of pay-as-you-go pension systems and recent demographic trends in the hosting country affects natives' attitudes towards immigration. In two online experiments in Italy and Spain, we randomly treated participants with a video explaining how, in pay-as-you-go pension systems, the payment of current pensions depends on the contributions paid by current workers. The video also explains that the ratio between the number of pensioners and the number of workers in their countries will grow substantially in the future. We find that the treatment improves participants' knowledge about how a pay-as-you-go system works and the future demographic trends in their country. However, we find that only treated participants who do not support populist and anti-immigrant parties display more positive attitudes towards migrants, even though the treatment increases knowledge of pension systems and demographic trends for all participants. |
| Keywords: | information provision, experiment, immigration, pay-as-you-go pension systems, population ageing, populism |
| JEL: | C90 D83 H55 J15 F22 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15989&r=mig |
| By: | Patrick Dylong; Paul Setzepfand; Silke Uebelmesser |
| Abstract: | Using data from two representative and large-scale population surveys with more than 4000 participants, we investigate the effect of randomized priming interventions on attitudes towards immigrants. We document robust null effects of these interventions under two experimental settings, across two surveys and for a range of specifications. Our results suggest that (economic) attitudes towards immigrants are less sensitive to priming than previous research indicates. We thus provide (i) a reference point for settings in which intentional priming interventions are ineffective, and (ii) an upper bound for unintended priming effects. We argue that researchers should not be overly concerned about confounding priming effects when designing surveys to elicit attitudes towards immigrants. |
| Keywords: | attitudes towards immigration, priming, experimental design |
| JEL: | C83 C90 J15 F22 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10306&r=mig |
| By: | Di Iasio, Valentina (University of Southampton); Wahba, Jackline (University of Southampton) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effects of natives' anti-immigration attitudes on migration flows to EU countries. We use panel data for migration to the EU between 1995-2018. We address the potential endogeneity between public attitudes and migration flows using instrumental variable techniques. We also control for the dependence between the attractiveness of alternative EU destinations. Our findings suggest that there is a negative causal relationship between anti-immigration attitudes and migration inflows to the EU from both EU and non-EU countries; i.e. natives' hostility discourages immigration. However, the elasticity of immigration to public attitudes is higher than the elasticity of immigration to economic factors for EU migrants. |
| Keywords: | EU migration, public attitudes, migration drivers |
| JEL: | J61 F22 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15942&r=mig |
| By: | Bhaumik, Sumon; Chowdhury, Subhasish M.; Dimova, Ralitza; Fromell, Hanna |
| Abstract: | We investigate experimentally the effects of information about native/immigrant identity, and the ability to communicate a self-chosen personal characteristic towards the rival on conflict behavior. In a two-player individual contest with British and Immigrant subjects in the UK we find that neither information about identity nor communicating self-characteristics significantly affect the average level of conflict. Both of those, however, significantly affect players' strategies, in the sense of the extent they involve conflict over time. Overall, the results indicate that inter-personal communication may help to mitigate high intensity conflicts when the identities are common knowledge among rivals. |
| Keywords: | Conflict, Experiment, Identity, Immigrant, Communication |
| JEL: | C72 C91 D72 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1255&r=mig |
| By: | Glitz, Albrecht; Hörnig, Lukas; Körner, Konstantin; Monras, Joan |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how refugee inflows affect receiving communities using highly disaggregated German administrative data at a 1km × 1km resolution. We develop a novel spatial equilibrium model that features two geographic levels, small neighborhoods and more aggregated local labor markets (LLMs). In the model, local displacement effects and impacts on house prices are closely linked to immigration-induced changes in neighborhood-level amenities and LLM-level productivity. Our empirical results show that refugee inflows lead to a less than one-for-one relative population relocation in neighborhoods, indicating that refugees have a positive impact on local amenities. We also find relocation on the LLM-level to be less than one-for-one, suggesting that refugees also positively impact local productivity. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, refugees, spatial equilibrium |
| JEL: | J15 R1 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:994&r=mig |
| By: | Damiano Argan and Anatole Cheyssson |
| Abstract: | We study how foreign language proficiency affects brain drain by exploiting the exposure of parts of Albania to Italian television in the second half of the twentieth century. At that time, Albania was isolated from the rest of the world, with controlled internal migration and prohibited international migration. As the Italian TV transmitter accidentally reached Albania, Albanians’ exposure to the signal was as good as random conditional on geographical variables. We find that exposure to Italian TV led to a considerable increase in Italian proficiency rates. It also strongly increased the probability of emigration of highly skilled individuals, but did not affect other skill groups. We rule out other channels through which TV might affect migration and interpret our findings as the effect of foreign language proficiency on brain drain. |
| Keywords: | Migration; Media; International Migration; Language. |
| JEL: | O15 L82 F22 Z13 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eui:euiwps:eco2023/01&r=mig |
| By: | Luik, Marc-André; Steinhardt, Max Friedrich; Voss, Simon |
| Abstract: | In this paper we deliver first causal evidence on the relationship between immigrant host country language proficiency and homeownership. Using an instrumental variable strategy, we find a substantial positive impact of language skills on the propensity to own a home and the quality of housing. While this effect is mediated by education and household income, our estimates also speak in favor of a direct effect. Our results highlight the importance of host-country-specific human capital and, in particular, language proficiency for socio-economic assimilation. |
| Keywords: | language, immigrants, assimilation, homeownership |
| JEL: | J11 J13 J61 R21 Z13 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fubsbe:20233&r=mig |
| By: | Markus, Philipp |
| Abstract: | The paper examines the effect of access to universities on education and migration decisions of young adults. So far, studies on the causal effect of education on mobility have mainly focused on labor market mobility of high-skilled workers after finishing their educational career, due to the lack of suitable data or the problem of endogeneity between education and mobility. I exploit the exogenous variation induced by a large-scale tertiary education expansion reform beginning in the 1970s in Sweden to investigate the impact of the change in access to universities on college participation rates and migration patterns of high school graduates. Using individual administrative data, I find that if a new higher education institution opens in a municipality, the high school graduates of that location are 6.6% more likely to attend college. At the same time, their propensity to move out of the municipality in the four years after finishing secondary education decreases by 10.1%. In contrast, high school graduates in the catchment area of the new institution show no change in college participation rates and, if anything, an increased propensity to leave the municipality of high school graduation. My results indicate that the effects on education and migration are mainly local and non-linear in geographical distance. |
| Keywords: | Education economics, migration economics, university expansion reform, mobility ofhigh school graduates |
| JEL: | I23 I28 J11 R23 R58 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:996&r=mig |
| By: | Kihwan Bae (West Virginia University); Edward Timmons (West Virginia University) |
| Abstract: | Occupational credentials are typically not portable across geography. Using policy reforms by U.S. states, we show that the limited portability of occupational licenses constrains labor market activity and geographic mobility of licensed individuals. After states implement universal recognition, a policy that allows individuals with occupational licenses issued by other states to work without repeating a costly relicensing procedure, we find that the employment ratio increases by 0.98 percentage points among licensed individuals in the sample relative to unlicensed individuals. The employment effect is co-driven by additional labor market participation and a reduction in unemployment after the policy. With the employment effect, we also find some evidence of a decline in hourly wages among licensed individuals after the policy. Regarding geographic mobility, we show that migration into states with universal recognition increased by 0.77 percentage points or 48.4% among individuals with low portability licenses. Our findings suggest that universal recognition improves license portability and labor market efficiency. |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wvu:wpaper:23-03&r=mig |
| By: | Bryanna Dixon; Anita Pena |
| Abstract: | Internal migration is inherently difficult to study with public data, which often lacks the geographic precision necessary to distinguish between moves that occur within counties, between counties but within states, and between states. Unfortunately, while very well suited to studying these phenomena, generally, the restricted-use ACS contains a constructed variable, “MIGPR”, that distinguishes between each type of move but contains some missing data. This report summarizes the characteristics of those respondents missing data on the MIGPR question to better understand the limitations of using this variable for studies of internal migration. |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:tnotes:23-01&r=mig |
| By: | Stansbury, Anna; Turner, Dan; Balls, Ed |
| Abstract: | The UK is one of the most regionally unequal industrialised economies. In this paper, we analyze the UK’s regional economic inequality from the perspective of productivity disparities between large regions, focusing on the gap between London/South East vs the rest. We look at four important economic inputs – education, infrastructure, innovation, and access to finance – for each one building up a collage of evidence to gauge the extent to which it is a binding constraint on regions’ productivity growth. We then analyze interregional migration. We find little evidence consistent with the hypotheses (i) that low shares of university graduates remain the primary constraint on growth for the UK’s regions; (ii) that there is a generalized issue with access to finance for firms outside the South East; or (iii) that low or falling regional migration rates are to blame for the persistence of the UK’s regional economic inequalities. Instead, we find evidence consistent with (i) a specific relative shortage of STEM skills; (ii) binding transport infrastructure constraints within major non-London conurbations; (iii) a failure of public innovation policy to support clusters beyond the South East, in particular through the regional distribution of public support for Research and Development (R&D); and (iv) missed opportunities for higher internal mobility due to London’s overheating housing market. |
| Date: | 2023–03–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:d42xq&r=mig |
| By: | Hirotaka Goto |
| Abstract: | Individual participants in human society collectively exhibit aggregation behavior. In this study, we present a simple microscopic model of labor force migration by employing the active Brownian particles framework. Through agent-based simulations, we find that our model produces clusters of agents from a random initial distribution. Furthermore, two empirical regularities called Zipf's and Okun's laws were observed in our model. To reveal the mechanism underlying the reproduced agglomeration phenomena, we derived an extended Keller-Segel system, a classic model that describes the aggregation behavior of biological organisms called "taxis, " from our microscopic model. The obtained macroscopic system indicates that the agglomeration of the workforce in real world can be accounted for through a new type of taxis central to human behavior, which highlights the relevance of urbanization to blow-up phenomena in the derived PDE system. We term it "econotaxis." |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2303.09720&r=mig |
| By: | Cremers, Jan |
| Abstract: | [Introduction] This paper discusses the possibility for the trade union movement to perform assumed, expected, or allotted tasks in the area of workers' mobility and cross-border labour migration. It aims to give an overview of support activities performed by the trade union movement towards mobile and migrant labour in the EU. It is neither meant to be an exhaustive nor a complete picture of supporting activities. In the European Union, the social partners can play a vital role in the process of drafting and concluding legal and conventional components of the EU acquis. In addition, the social partners are seen, in certain areas, as relevant stakeholders in the implementation of EU-Directives and Regulations. Moreover, they play a role as assigned actors in the application or observance of implemented social policies. In many respects, they are supposed to deliver adequate information to all workers, whether a union member or not. And in the end, several EU Directives empower collective actors like the trade unions with legal instruments to defend workers' rights. All in all, unions are considered the collective voice. The paper starts with a brief explanation of rights that can be derived from a labour relationship as formulated in international and European conventions and regulations. The labour relationship is not only the key point of reference for determining the nature and extent of employers' rights and obligations towards their workers, but also the starting point for rights-based labour mobility. It is the condition that determines the application of labour and social security law provisions addressed to workers, in order to guarantee the necessary protection. Several rights are formulated irrespective of the juridical status of the worker and are therefore relevant for mobile migrant labour. Besides, this entitlement is often guaranteed for every type of worker residing and moving legally within the EU. The second paragraph focuses on the EU acquis with the objective to provide an overall picture of relevant parts of the acquis that allocate (certain) tasks or competences to the trade union or the social partners in the area of rights-based labour mobility. The related work can be seen as an important contribution to the implementation of the social EU acquis and its application. Moreover, this contribution goes far beyond the social dimension, as it touches directly on the functioning (and the success or failure) of the internal market and the related free movement of citizens and workers. Thirdly, some examples are treated of practical experiences with support activities. The focus is on forms and instruments of information, advice, support, and counselling initiated by the trade union movement and related to mobile and migrant labour in the EU. This section ends with an overview of barriers and limitations faced by the organisers of these activities. The final paragraph looks at the support needs in the evolving Single Market and ends with suggestions and recommendations for more direct material assistance from both the EU and the Member States to the supportive work. Basic aim of this paper is to identify some noteworthy practices and to contribute to the debate about the collective defence of the interests of mobile and migrant labour through trade union activities as a contribution to fair and rights-based mobility in the EU. |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:imupbs:7&r=mig |