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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Clemens, Michael A. (George Mason University); Neufeld, Jeremy (George Mason University); Nice, Amy M. (Cornell University) |
| Abstract: | We examine a little-known restriction on high-skill immigration to the United States, the Exchange Visitor Skills List. This List mandates that to become eligible for long-term status in the U.S., certain high-skill visitors must reside in their home countries for two years after participation in the Exchange Visitor Program on a J-1 visa. While well-intended to prevent draining developing nations of needed skills, today the Skills List in practice is outdated and misdirected. It is outdated because it fails to reflect modern economic research on the complex effects of skilled migration on overseas development. It is misdirected because, as we show, the stringency of the List bears an erratic and even counterproductive relationship to the development level of the targeted countries. The List is also opaque: there have been no public estimates of exactly how many high-skill visitors are subject to the list. We provide the first such estimates. Over the last decade, an average of between 35, 000 and 44, 000 high-skill visitors per year have been covered by the home residency requirement via the Skills List. Despite the stated purpose of the List, these restrictions fall more heavily on relatively advanced economies than on the poorest countries. We describe how a proposed revision to the List can address all three of these concerns, balancing the national interest with evidence-based support for overseas development. |
| Keywords: | migration, skill, human capital, talent, restrictions, barriers, visa, policy, brain drain, brain gain, development, migration, immigration, innovation, research, science |
| JEL: | F22 J24 O15 O33 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izapps:pp214 |
| By: | Agnese Secchi (University of Genoa, IT); Skerdilajda Zanaj (DEM, Université du Luxembourg, L); Gabriele Lombardi (University of Florence, IT) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how female leadership in the household influences offspring’s key life decisions, with a particular focus on student mobility. Using Italian data from 2014 to 2020, we perform both individual-level and regional gravity analyses. The individual-level analysis focuses on the decision to study in another region, while the gravity analysis explores bilateral student flows between pairs of Italian regions. Female headship is used as a proxy for the mother’s bargaining power within the household, with headship assigned to the parent with the highest income. Our findings reveal that when mothers hold greater decision-making power as heads of the household, students are less likely to move away for higher education. This ‘mother-hen’ effect applies to both sons and daughters and appears to be driven by strong family ties, rather than traditional gender roles, risk aversion, or parental preferences regarding their children’s independence. |
| Keywords: | female headship; student mobility, university education, family ties. |
| JEL: | R2 R23 J16 J12 J13 I12 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:luc:wpaper:24-08 |
| By: | Guillermo Guzmán Prudencio (SDSN Bolivia); Lykke E. Andersen (SDSN Bolivia); Ariel Zeballos (SDSN Bolivia); Diego Vladimir Romecín Duarte (SDSN Bolivia) |
| Abstract: | The study analyses unfinished migration in Bolivia, understood as the phenomenon by which some families maintain double residence between the countryside and the city. From the analysis of household electricity consumption (as a proxy variable of their socioeconomic level), different livelihood strategies are evaluated, as well as their implications for poverty. The use of big data (more than 100 million observations) and the analytical methodology are certainly novel and propose alternative possibilities for research in applied economics. |
| Keywords: | Bolivia, migration, poverty, electrical consumption |
| JEL: | O15 O18 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iad:sdsnwp:0323 |