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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Frédéric Docquier; Ariane Gordan; Michel Tenikue; Aleksa Uljarevic |
| Abstract: | We study the factors that shape attitudes toward immigration in Luxembourg, a wealthy country with a long history of immigration, where 74\% of the population has a foreign background. Overall, a large majority of respondents acknowledge that immigration enriches national identity and has a positive impact on the economy. These attitudes are shaped by characteristics such as age, education and foreign background. Pro-immigration attitudes are stronger among second-generation immigrants and even more pronounced among first-generation immigrants from Portugal, neighboring and non-European countries. In addition, we find that the total share of immigrants in the immediate neighborhood does not significantly influence attitudes towards the economic and identitarian implications of immigration. However, local exposure to immigration influences natives' perceptions of the optimal level of immigration. We provide suggestive evidence that the latter effect is largely driven by recent inflows of non-European immigrants, indicating that acceptance of diversity and multiculturalism might take time. |
| Keywords: | Immigration; Attitudes; Well-being; Neighborhood |
| JEL: | J15 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2024-08 |
| By: | Hessami, Zohal (Ruhr University Bochum); Schirner, Sebastian (Ruhr University Bochum) |
| Abstract: | We study whether the arrival of a new immigrant wave changes natives' acceptance of former immigrants and their descendants. We exploit the 2015 European refugee crisis and the context of German open-list local council elections where voting for immigrant-origin candidates represents a consequential revealed preference. We combine hand-collected candidate-level election data with administrative asylum seeker data. Continuous difference-in-differences estimations (based on municipal %∆ in asylum seekers) reveal that immigrant-origin candidates receive more votes the more asylum seekers arrived locally. This shift in social group boundaries is driven by candidates with a Southern/Eastern European origin being culturally similar to Germans. |
| Keywords: | immigration, immigrant-origin candidates, local elections, social acceptance, cultural similarity |
| JEL: | D72 F22 J11 J15 N34 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17343 |
| By: | Bertoli, Simone (CERDI, Université Clermont Auvergne); Clerc, Melchior (CERDI, Université Clermont Auvergne); Loper, Jordan (CERDI, Université Clermont Auvergne); Fernández, Èric Roca (CERDI, Université Clermont Auvergne) |
| Abstract: | Data on individuals of immigrant origin are used in the epidemiological approach in comparative development for understanding cultural persistence, the determinants of cultural norms, and the effects of genetic traits. A widespread presumption is that this approach is exposed to attenuation bias. We describe how the increasing reliance on foreign ancestries to identify respondents' origin can invalidate this presumption. Selfselection into reporting a foreign ancestry and unobserved heterogeneity in the time elapsed since ancestral migration can overestimate the effect of interest. A simple theoretical framework describes the joint influence of these two factors on the estimates obtained from a canonical specification. We provide illustrative examples of the empirical relevance of our concerns drawing on two influential papers in the literature: Fernández and Fogli (2006) and Giuliano and Nunn (2021). |
| Keywords: | comparative development, migration, ancestry, culture, identity choice |
| JEL: | F22 Z10 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17356 |
| By: | Sam Huckstep (Center for Global Development); Jonathan Beynon (Center for Global Development) |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that climate-vulnerable populations should be given preferential access to labour migration programmes by countries of destination; and that this could be incentivised by classifying some remittances, in narrow circumstances, as mobilised private climate finance. Labour migration can provide climate-vulnerable households with access to large new financial flows with potentially transformative effects for household adaptation. No other development intervention matches the impacts of international labour migration. Despite this, few countries of destination have attempted to target labour migration opportunities to climate-vulnerable communities able to derive the greatest benefit. To overcome the relative inconvenience of doing so for countries of destination, we propose a new tangible incentive. Migration programmes meeting narrow criteria (verifiably and transparently selecting for climate vulnerability) could be ODA-eligible and meet OECD standards for mobilising private climate finance. After deductions of migrants’ participation and opportunity costs, remittances generated could be considered mobilised private climate finance for adaptation. Current flows of mobilised private finance for adaptation are intolerably low, and high-income countries have declared their desire to mobilise more as a matter of priority. Targeted migration programmes can offer an efficient way of doing so: the leverage ratio of project costs to remittances is likely favourable compared to other examples of mobilised private finance. Targeted migration programmes could mobilise significant finance (potentially hundreds of millions of dollars), contributing to meeting underfunded and growing climate adaptation needs at the most local level. The quality of this financing is higher than many alternative options: funding flows directly to climate-vulnerable households, in amounts unmatched by alternative interventions. Several positive secondary effects are also identified. |
| Date: | 2024–10–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:ppaper:343 |
| By: | Chiswick, Barry R.; Robinson, RaeAnn Halenda |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the occupational status of adult White foreign-born men in the antebellum United States, compared to White native-born men, and among the foreign born by country of origin. Hypotheses are developed regarding the effects on occupational status of human capital, demographic, and immigrant-related variables. The hypotheses are tested using the PUMS data for the 100 percent sample (full count) from the 1850 Census of Population, the first census to ask for the male respondent's occupation, as well as the linked 1850-1860 Census data. Two quantitative measures of occupational status serve as the dependent variables - the Occupational Income Score and the Ducan Socioeconomic Index. The hypotheses are found to be consistent with the data. Moreover, other variables the same, while there is a large gap in occupational status between the foreign and native born just after the former arrive, this gap narrows very quickly and, other variables the same, White male immigrants reached occupational-income parity with their native-born counterparts at about 8.4 years after immigration. |
| Keywords: | Immigrants, Occupational Status, Occupational Income Score, Duncan Socioeconomic Index, 1850 Census of Population, Antebellum United States, Labor Market Analysis, Longitudinal Analysis (1850-1860) |
| JEL: | N31 J15 J62 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1512 |
| By: | Zanoni, Wladimir; Fabregas, Raissa |
| Abstract: | We conducted an artifactual field experiment with human resource recruiters in Ecuador to investigate the extent to which migrants are penalized in the labor market. Human resource recruiters were hired to evaluate pairs of job candidates competing for jobs. The candidate profiles were observationally equivalent, except that one was randomly assigned to be a Venezuelan migrant. Recruiters assessed job fitness, proposed wages for each candidate, and made hiring recommendations. We find robust evidence of a penalty against migrants across all dimensions. Venezuelans are penalized despite being from a population who shares cultural, historical, and linguistic characteristics with natives and has, on average, higher levels of education. We do not find evidence that recruiters demographic characteristics, experience, cognitive scores, or personality traits correlate with a preference for natives. Instead, there is suggestive evidence that jobs requiring a greater degree of local knowledge or public interface carry a higher migrant penalty. |
| Keywords: | Migrant;labor market;Wage;discrimination |
| JEL: | J71 J61 C93 O15 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13804 |
| By: | Eli Beracha; Wintoki Babajide; Kim Emily; Xi Yaoyi |
| Abstract: | This study explores the extent to which highly skilled immigrants affect local housing prices by exploiting exogenous inflow of highly skilled immigrants to an area through the H-1B visa lottery program. Our results suggest that an influx of highly skilled and high-income immigrants increases the demand for housing. Specifically, our findings show that greater inflow of highly skilled immigrants leads to higher local housing price appreciation. This positive relationship between the influx of highly skilled immigrants and housing price appreciation is stronger in areas with faster overall population growth and in areas with inelastic land supply. However, additional findings show that the inflow of highly skilled workers does not significantly affect local rent prices. |
| Keywords: | H-1B visa program; housing; housing appreciation; real estate return |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2024–01–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2024-049 |
| By: | Bouët, Antoine (CEPII, Paris); Edo, Anthony (CEPII, Paris); Emlinger, Charlotte (CEPII, Paris) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the local effects of trade exposure and immigration on voting behavior in France from 1988 to 2022. We use the content of each candidate's manifesto to construct an anti-globalization voting index for each French presidential election. This index shows a significant increase in the anti-globalization positions of candidates, and a growing anti-globalization vote beyond the far right. We show that increasing local exposure to import competition and immigration increases anti-globalization votes, while increasing export exposure reduces them. We also find that imports have different effects depending on the products imported. While exposure to imports of final goods increases anti-globalization voting, exposure to imports of intermediate goods reduces it. |
| Keywords: | voting, trade, immigration, political economy |
| JEL: | D72 F6 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17353 |