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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Federico Droller; Martin Fiszbein; Santiago Pérez |
| Abstract: | Argentina was the second largest destination country during the Age of Mass Migration, receiving nearly six million migrants. In this article, we first summarize recent findings characterizing migrants’ long-term economic assimilation and their contributions to local economic development. The reviewed evidence shows that Europeans experienced rapid upward mobility in Argentina and immigration contributed positively to the process of economic development. We then turn our focus to the selection patterns of Italian migrants to Argentina—the largest migratory group to this destination. Our analysis of this initial stage of the migrants’ history shows that Italians who moved to Argentina were positively selected on the basis of literacy, complementing existing evidence of rapid upward mobility and contribution to growth at destination. |
| JEL: | F22 J61 J62 N36 |
| Date: | 2023–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31448&r=mig |
| By: | Coniglio, Nicola Daniele; Hoxhaj, Rezart; Lagravinese, Raffaele |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the emotional experiences of immigrants and native- born individuals in the United States, exploring the relationship between daily activities and feelings of happiness, stress, and meaningfulness. We analyze the entire range of daily activities and their durations, utilizing data from the American Time-Use Survey (ATUS) Well-Being modules. The results reveal that when viewed through the evaluation lenses of the general US population, immigrants engage in less happy, more stressful, and less meaningful activ- ities compared to natives. However, when considering subjective emotional assessments, immigrants are more optimistic and perceive these activities as associated with higher levels of happiness and meaningfulness. The study also finds evidence of emotional assimilation over time, with happiness disparities between immigrants and natives diminishing. However, this process appears incomplete for second-generation immigrants. The findings highlights the im- portance of recognizing the different perspectives of immigrants to formulate inclusive policies that facilitate integration. |
| Keywords: | Immigrants, TimeUse, Emotional Experiences, Assimilation, Well-Being |
| JEL: | J15 J22 I31 Z13 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1306&r=mig |
| By: | Cecil Mlatsheni (University of Cape Town); Ronald Zvendiya |
| Abstract: | Incomes are volatile in poor communities and sometimes households live on less than a dollar per day. To cushion themselves from volatile income, poor families resort to borrowing from friends and job hunting. Establishing a business enterprise is also among alternatives adopted by family members in trying to reduce financial vulnerability. However, the business enterprise option is impeded by lack of capital, thus household units end up considering migration as an indirect strategy to escape poverty. The New Economics of Labour Migration theory, recognizes family participation in migration decisions as a strategy for moving out of poverty, thus signaling potential welfare linkages between migrants and family members left behind. The current study investigates the impact of migration on welfare of migrant sending households in rural Zimbabwe using cross-sectional data. The study employs a Counterfactual approach and utilizes a two stage Heckman selection model to control for selection bias. Preliminary results indicate that on average, migration impacts household welfare positively but the welfare gains are not evenly distributed among households. |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ldr:wpaper:296&r=mig |
| By: | George J. Borjas; Anthony Edo |
| Abstract: | In May 1981, President François Mitterrand regularized the status of undocumented immigrant workers in France. The newly legalized immigrants represented 12 percent of the non-French workforce and about 1 percent of all workers. Employers have monopsony power over undocumented workers because the undocumented may find it costly to participate in the open labor market and have restricted economic opportunities. By alleviating this labor market imperfection, a regularization program can move the market closer to the efficient competitive equilibrium and potentially increase employment and wages for both the newly legalized and the authorized workforce. Our empirical analysis reveals that the Mitterrand regularization program particularly increased employment and wages for low-skill native and immigrant men, and raised French GDP by over 1 percent. |
| JEL: | D43 J31 J42 J61 |
| Date: | 2023–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31457&r=mig |
| By: | Razi Farukh (Department of Economics, University of Cologne); Matthias Heinz (University of Cologne, ECONtribute, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn, and CEPR); Anna Kerkhof (Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, ifo Institute for Economic Research, bidt Graduate Center CESifo); Heiner Schumacher (University of Innsbruck and KU Leuven) |
| Abstract: | Do news outlets push overly positive or negative attitudes to migration in their coverage, or do they try to maintain a neutral and holistic perspective on the topic? To study media slant in the context of migration, we collect and code migration-related pictures that news outlets publish and – to establish a benchmark – compare them to the pictures that pro- and anti-migration ideological campaigns use in promotion materials. We find that most national news outlets in Germany adopt an attitude to migration that is closer to pro- than to anti-migration campaigns. All news outlets except one tabloid newspaper maintain their attitude to migration even when consumers become more critical of migration over time. Moreover, all news outlets use pictures with very diverse evaluations. Their position on migration largely follows their political orientation. We also use our method to compare the media slant in the context of migration between Germany, Hungary, and the US. |
| Keywords: | News Markets, Media Slant, Polarization |
| JEL: | D83 L82 O15 |
| Date: | 2023–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:248&r=mig |
| By: | Maria Balgova (IZA); Hannah Illing (University of Bonn, IAB, IZA) |
| Abstract: | This paper sheds new light on the barriers to migrants’ labor market assimilation. Using administrative data for Germany from 1997-2016, we estimate dynamic difference-in-differences regressions to investigate the relative trajectory of earnings, wages, and employment following mass layoff separately for migrants and natives. We show that job displacement affects the two groups differently even when we systematically control for pre-layoff differences in their characteristics: migrants have on average higher earnings losses, and they find it much more difficult to find employment. However, those who do find a new job experience faster wage growth compared to displaced natives. We examine several potential mechanisms and find that these gaps are driven by labor market conditions, such as local migrant networks and labor market tightness, rather than migrants’ behavior. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Job Displacement, Job Search |
| JEL: | J62 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2023–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:246&r=mig |
| By: | LIU Yang; KONDO Keisuke |
| Abstract: | Several studies have examined immigrants’ labor force participation and economic outcomes and highlighted immigrants’ geographic behaviors in host countries; however, Japanese cases remain unexplored. This study provides novel evidence of the immigrant–native differentials in commuting and residential preferences in Japan. This study uses individual data from the 2010 Population Census. Controlling for individual characteristics, employment status, regions, industries, and occupations, we observe that the gender gap in commuting distance is much smaller for immigrants than for the Japanese natives. Among married couples, male immigrants commute significantly shorter distances than native males. No significant differences exist in commuting distance between female immigrants and natives. While analyzing residential preferences, we find that immigrants who have lived in Japan for 5 years or more tend to reside in areas with a higher population density than those who have lived for less than 5 years. Immigrant–native differentials in residential preferences differ according to home countries. The result contributes to the literature on immigrant economic integration. Further, it provides empirical evidence for policies that address the labor shortage problem in Japan. |
| Date: | 2023–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:23057&r=mig |
| By: | Zuccotti, Carolina V.; Platt, Lucinda |
| Abstract: | Despite predominantly lower social class origins, the second generation of established immigrant groups in the UK are now attaining high levels of education. However, they continue to experience poorer labour market outcomes than the majority population. These worse outcomes are often attributed in part to their disadvantaged origins, which do not, by contrast, appear to constrain their educational success. This paper engages with this paradox. We discuss potential mechanisms for second-generation educational success and how far we might expect these to be replicated in labour market outcomes. We substantiate our discussion with new empirical analysis. Drawing on a unique longitudinal study of England and Wales spanning 40 years and encompassing one per cent of the population, we present evidence on the educational and labour market outcomes of the second generation of four groups of immigrants and the white British majority, controlling for multiple measures of social origins. We demonstrate that second-generation men and women’s educational advantage is only partially reflected in the labour market. We reflect on the implications of our findings for future research. |
| Keywords: | social mobility; ethnic groups; second-generation; educational outcomes; social class; employment; social origins |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2023–07–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:119647&r=mig |
| By: | Romuald Méango; François Poinas |
| Abstract: | The paper is structured around three main contributions. First, it takes advantage of a unique survey on Afghan asylum seekers in Germany to provide novel descriptive insights into asylum seekers’ beliefs about their outcomes and the associated intention to overstay. Second, it estimates asylum seekers’ perceived ex ante returns on overstaying, and option values of regularisation, deportation, and experimentation. Third, it assesses and rejects the cost-effectiveness argument for assisted voluntary return policies. Instead, it estimates a sizeable willingness-to-pay of asylum seekers for investments that would guarantee their regularisation. |
| Keywords: | subjective expectations, intention to overstay, asylum seekers, Germany, Afghanistan |
| JEL: | C20 D84 F22 J15 J18 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10536&r=mig |
| By: | Åslund, Olof (Uppsala University, Department of Economics); Liljeberg, Linus (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Roman, Sara (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | We study the economic and social integration of refugee children. The analysis follows war refugees arriving from former Yugoslavia to Sweden in the early 1990s for up to 25 years. We find strong educational and economic integration, although differing by age at migration and gender. By contrast, segregation is striking in family formation. Those under 7 at migration had grades and high school completion on par with natives. Poor initial school performance among teenage refugees was partly compensated by education at higher ages. By 2019 there was on average full labor market assimilation among women while a small gap remained among men. However, refugees arriving before school start outperformed their native peers. Endogamy was common; even among preschoolers, 60–70 percent had their first child with a partner of Yugoslavian descent. Many of the partners migrated after the refugee had turned 20. Intermarriage is gendered and related to socioeconomic status. Residential and workplace segregation decreased over time but remained pronounced among people without tertiary education. |
| Keywords: | Refugee children; migrants; economic and social integration |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J18 |
| Date: | 2023–06–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2023_017&r=mig |
| By: | Åslund, Olof (Uppsala universitet); Liljeberg, Linus (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Roman, Sara (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy) |
| Abstract: | We study the short- and long-term economic and social integration of European war refugees. The population under study left former Yugoslavia for Sweden in the early 1990s. In the first years, there were significant human capital investments in language training, adult education, and active labor market programs. The Yugoslav refugees then exhibited a remarkably sharp increase in employment and earnings, possibly helped by improving labor markets and pre-existing contacts in Sweden. Many entered jobs in manufacturing and service industries and remained there to a considerable extent. Among those above 50 at arrival, labor market outcomes were not as good. Despite strong development during the early years, the long-term labor market position of the Yugoslavs is broadly on par with previous cohorts of refugees. Residential segregation first increased and then declined, whereas workplace segregation was most marked among the early entrants. |
| Keywords: | Refugees; migrants; economic and social integration |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J18 |
| Date: | 2023–06–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2023_016&r=mig |
| By: | Leah Platt Boustan; Christine Cai; Tammy Tseng |
| Abstract: | Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial group in the US but we know little about how Asian immigration has affected cities, neighborhoods and schools. This paper studies white flight from Asian arrivals in high-socioeconomic-status Californian school districts from 2000-2016 using initial settlement patterns and national immigrant flows to instrument for entry. We find that, as Asian students arrive, white student enrollment declines in higher-income suburbs. These patterns cannot be fully explained by racial animus, housing prices, or correlations with Black/Hispanic arrivals. Parental fears of academic competition may play a role. |
| JEL: | R23 |
| Date: | 2023–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31434&r=mig |
| By: | Arrighetti, Alessandro; Canello, Jacopo |
| Abstract: | This article aims to propose a novel theoretical framework to interpret the recent patterns of migrant entrepreneurship in the global economy. Our theoretical framework builds on the resource-based view and highlights the role of the migrant enterprise as a collective entity endowed with peculiar tangible and intangible resources. The specific endowment of each migrant firm determines its competitive advantages and disadvantages, as well as its ability to acquire and process knowledge over time and internationalize. Such an approach allows to categorize the migrant enterprise as an autonomous entity, providing a reliable explanation of the heterogeneous features and performances displayed by these firms in the global economy. Indeed, even when migrant firms operate in the same host environment and are managed by entrepreneurs of the same ethnic background, their performances tend to be significantly different. Using a resource-based approach, the peculiar features of the migrant enterprise can be disentangled and explained more effectively. |
| Keywords: | Migrant entrepreneurship, Resorce-based View, Heterogeneity, Host Environment |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:273451&r=mig |
| By: | Berbée, Paul; Stuhler, Jan |
| Abstract: | Germany has become the second-most important destination for migrants worldwide. Using all waves from the microcensus, we study their labor market integration over the last 50 years, and document key differences to the US case. While the employment gaps between immigrant and native men decline in the first years after arrival, they remain large for most cohorts; the average gap one decade after arrival is around 10 percentage points. Income gaps are instead widening with time spent in Germany. Differences in educational and demographic characteristics explain how those gaps vary across groups, and why they widened over time: accounting for composition, integration outcomes show no systematic trend. However, economic conditions do matter, and the employment rate of some earlier cohorts collapsed when structural shocks hit the German labor market in the 1990s. Finally, we study the likely integration path of recent arrivals during the European refugee 'crisis' and the Russo-Ukrainian war. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, labor market integration, long-run trends |
| JEL: | J11 J61 J68 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:23020&r=mig |
| By: | Bursell, Moa (Institute for Futures Studies, Iffs); Bygren, Magnus (Institute for Futures Studies and Department of Sociology, Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | Western labor markets are typically segregated by country of birth, with immigrants often working in immigrant-typed jobs, e.g., cleaners, taxi drivers, fast-food chefs, and similar. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether employer variation in discriminatory hiring choices contributes to the maintenance of such immigrant niches by channeling immigrants and their descendants into these types of jobs. We use correspondence audit data derived from 7, 051 job applications sent to job openings in 15 different occupations in the Swedish labor market between 2013 and 2019, in which names signaling the ‘foreignness’ of job applicants were randomly assigned to job applications with otherwise identical qualifications. Our results suggest that employers do contribute to this type of segregation. While ethnic discrimination is pervasive in the ‘native’ occupations in our data, it declines as the share of foreign-born individuals working in a given occupation increases, and is low or even absent in the most immigrant-dense niches. However, the pattern is gendered: it is only ‘foreign’-named men who are disproportionately channeled into such niches. We conclude that variation in discriminatory employer hiring choices appears to be partly responsible for reproducing (male-dominated) immigrant niches in the labor market. |
| Keywords: | discrimination; ethnicity; segregation; correspondence audit; field experiments; labor market; hiring |
| JEL: | J71 |
| Date: | 2023–05–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2023_013&r=mig |
| By: | Ambler, Kate; de Brauw, Alan; Maruyama, Eduardo; Moussavi, Sara |
| Abstract: | This is a joint IFPRI-WFP study on the drivers, profile, and risks of irregular migration in the West Africa context. By taking a route-based approach to irregular migration in West Africa, the study examined migrants’ origins, their transit experience, and the situation where their journey stalls or ends. Drawing on a mixed methods approach the study includes case studies in Mali and Libya, representing an analysis of the migration route of the Ténéré desert crossing of the south-central Sahara. The overall analysis features the profiles of irregular migrants and the primary factors influencing their migration decisions. It also examines links between food insecurity and irregular migration to understand the risks and address the needs of this increasingly vulnerable population. |
| Keywords: | MALI; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; LIBYA; NORTH AFRICA; migration; decision making; food insecurity; risk; income; economic aspects; political aspects; climate change; Ténéré desert; Sahara |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:fprepo:136815&r=mig |
| By: | Åslund, Olof (Uppsala University, Department of Economics); Larsson, Fredrik (Swedish Public Employment Agency); Laun, Lisa (Uppsala Center for Labor Studies (UCLS)) |
| Abstract: | Theory and empirical findings on retirement determinants suggest that we may expect differences in labor market exit between native and foreign-born workers. Despite many countries seeing rising immigrant shares in their aging populations, alongside significant labor market disparities, the issue has so far received limited attention. Population-wide administrative data for Sweden show that the hazard rate to retirement is greater among immigrants already from age 50. But approaching age 65, especially marginal migrant groups have a stronger tendency to remain in the labor force and thus not adhering to the norm of retiring at a specific age. Education and family situation explain little of the retirement gaps, whereas labor market history, health, and occupational allocations are important determinants. Immigrant-native retirement differences are greater among men than among women. Overall findings suggest economic necessity and/or opportunity rather than varying preferences as drivers of differentials. |
| Keywords: | labor market exit; immigrants; retirement hazard |
| JEL: | C93 J64 J68 |
| Date: | 2023–06–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2023_015&r=mig |
| By: | Navid Sabet; Noam Yuchtman |
| Abstract: | We empirically identify politically-motivated redistricting and its consequences, studying the effects of changed electorate composition on US congressional district boundaries and on political outcomes. We exploit the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which legalized millions of immigrants, changing local electorates without changing demographics — legalized immigrants were already counted in the census. Where Democrats controlled the 1990 redistricting process, higher IRCA populations were associated with more spatially distorted districts. Consistent with theory, Democrats packed Hispanics (their ardent supporters) into majority-minority districts. House delegations had more Hispanics suggesting that partisan gerrymandering, in this case, served the historically disadvantaged. |
| Keywords: | gerrymandering, minority political representation, immigrant legalization, state governance |
| JEL: | D70 P00 J10 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10554&r=mig |
| By: | Li, Yifan; Miao, Zhuang; Wang, Junbo; Zhang, Yan |
| Abstract: | Throughout the era of China’s accession to World Trade Organization (WTO), the labor market and education dynamics have been significantly impacted by the surge in foreign direct investment (FDI). This study scrutinizes how these factors interplay, with emphasis on migrants’ educational attainment, skill premium, and employment status. Our empirical evidence suggests that while FDI bolsters the relative demand for high-skill labors, it concurrently enhances education premiums and the educational attainment in general. Nevertheless, an intriguing anomaly emerges with the downward trajectory of migrants' educational levels. This counterintuitive phenomenon is primarily driven by the double-edged predicament of employment discrimination against high-skill migrants and the sluggish growth in demand for their employment. Empirical analysis further reveals that the FDI liberalization period witnessed an insignificant rise in migrants’ educational premiums, thereby predisposing them to low-wage or high-hazard positions. Our quantitative simulation shows that migration workers will improve their educational levels by 16% by migrating to the higher FDI-exposed region, and improve 4% by removal of the employment discrimination toward the migrants. Our study contributes to the understanding labor market structural shifts and migrant employment conditions in China during its WTO accession period. Additionally, it provides insights for policy-making geared towards the equitable distribution of FDI benefits. |
| Keywords: | FDI Liberalization; Educational Attainments; Educational Wage Premium; Migration |
| JEL: | F20 I20 J15 |
| Date: | 2023–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:117923&r=mig |
| By: | Timo Heinrich (Hamburg University of Technology); Jason Shachat (Durham University Business School and Wuhan University); Qinjuan Wan (Central China Normal University) |
| Abstract: | Conficts between local and migrant populations have been ubiquitous in modern China. We examine the longer-term potentials for resolution through inter-group contact and persistence through the inter-generational transmission of preferences. Public schooling in Chinese cities provides one of the largest interventions for children with diferent group identities to interact extensively. We adopt the perspective that in- and out-group biased behavior structurally arises from group-conditional social preferences. By conducting experiments consisting of binary dictator allocation tasks in schools in a Chinese city, we can analyze how integrated schooling shapes the respective behavior. Surprisingly, we do not observe any negative out-group bias. In fact, local students exhibit a positive out-group bias by choosing sharing behavior more toward migrant than other local peers. This sharing behavior is most prevalent among primary school cohorts. We also do not fnd a higher prevalence of out-group bias among parents. However, parents make more envious choices, highlighting the potential for broader positive efects of schooling. In addition, we fnd strong evidence for the inter-generational transmission of preferences. Overall, these fndings suggest that more directed eforts to establish contact between locals and migrants may be successful in overcoming the confict. |
| Keywords: | social preferences, group identity, out-group bias, Chinese youth, migration |
| JEL: | C91 D92 M11 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chu:wpaper:23-08&r=mig |