|
on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Docquier, Frédéric (LISER); Vasilakis, Chrysovalantis (Bangor University) |
| Abstract: | We test whether the level of right-wing populism in a given country influences the size and skill composition of its immigration and emigration flows. To do so, we use an instrumental variable approach, where we instrument variations in right-wing populism using a combination of collective memory, represented by the average vote share of right-wing parties between 1900 and 1950, and trigger variables, such as economic insecurity shocks. Our results show that an increase in right-wing populism leads to a decrease in the inflow of college-educated migrants, and this relationship is twice as strong as the effect on the inflow of low-skilled migrants. To a lesser extent, we also find that right-wing populism leads to an increase in high-skilled emigration, while leaving low-skilled emigration unaffected. These effects are not necessarily associated with the election of a populist government or stricter migration policies, suggesting that both in- and out-migration decisions may be influenced by the broader political climate and prevailing voter attitudes. As a result, right-wing populism tends to lower the average educational attainment of both immigrants and left-behind voters, which helps explain the persistence of right-wing populism despite its proven negative impact on the economy. |
| Keywords: | immigration, emigration, selection, right-wing populism |
| JEL: | D72 F22 F52 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17402 |
| By: | Biehler, Nadine; Kipp, David; Koch, Anne |
| Abstract: | Migration cooperation with third countries is thriving. Bilateral agreements with countries of origin, host countries and transit countries are increasingly seen as important instruments for overcoming the challenges associated with immigration. With the Special Commissioner for Migration Agreements, the German government has created a focal point to bring together the political objectives in the areas of return and labour recruitment into one comprehensive approach. Initial agreements were quickly reached in the hope of sending a clear signal to the electorate. Beyond their symbolic effect, the agreements have the potential not only to be the starting point for long-term, sustainable migration policy cooperation, but also to contribute towards the development of the countries of origin. In order to realise this potential, a better reconciliation of interests between the respective partner countries and Germany, capacity building in the area of recruitment and more consistency in external migration policy are required. |
| Keywords: | migration cooperation with third countries, countries of origin, host countries, transit countries, labour recruitment, Special Commissioner for Migration Agreements |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:swpcom:305236 |
| By: | Weichselbaumer, Doris (University of Linz); Riess, Hermann (Johannes Kepler University Linz) |
| Abstract: | In this study, we conduct an email correspondence test to examine ethnic discrimination against males with different immigration backgrounds (Serbian, Turkish/Muslim and Syrian/Muslim) in the Austrian rental housing market. In particular, we investigate the effect that immigrant generation has on callback chances. Property owners may perceive more recent immigrants as particularly "other" and fear that they will not be good tenants because, for example, they treat a property in an undesirable manner. We compare landlords' replies to inquiries from immigrants of the first, first and a half, and second generation to those who do not provide respective information about their immigration background. We find substantial levels of ethnic discrimination, which - in the case that no information on immigrant generation is provided - is highest for applicants with a Syrian name, followed by those bearing a Turkish and Serbian name. When applicants specify their place of birth and upbringing, callback rates are highest for second generation immigrants and lowest for first generation immigrants. This suggests advantages for more acculturated applicants. Accommodation seekers with a Syrian name, who may otherwise be perceived as refugees, benefit the most from stating that they were born in Austria. |
| Keywords: | ethnic discrimination, housing market, email correspondence experiment |
| JEL: | C93 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17403 |
| By: | Amer Ahmed (The World Bank); Esther Bartl (Department of Economics(PHD), University of Sussex, Falmer BN19RH , The World Bank) |
| Abstract: | Bangladeshi migrant workers face extremely high migrations costs, and often finance their migration episodes by incurring substantial debt. These costs have been found to be associated with persistent indebtedness, even after return. Individuals from poorer households have been found to prefer loans provided by a bank or money lender. At the same time, older individuals who not qualify for formal loans prefer borrowing from family and friends. The size of migration costs and time since return are major determinants of loan repayment. A one percentage point increase in migration costs may reduce the likelihood for full loan repayment by 12.9 percentage points. Early return may reduce the probability of full loan repayment by 7.32 percentage points compared to planned return. Presence of collateral may reduce the already repaid loan amount by around 30 percentage points, but implies that indebted households are putting their productive assets at risk |
| Keywords: | labor migration, migration cost, migration loan, Bangladesh |
| JEL: | F22 O15 D14 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sus:susewp:0824 |
| By: | Wenxiao WANG (Zhongnan University of Economics and Law); Shandre Mugan THANGAVELU (Sunway University, University of Adelaide) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new empirical evidence of city amenities’ role in China’s internal migration using a unique city-level dataset. The results highlight the positive effects of city amenities such as education, public facilities, transportation, environment, and climate conditions in attracting migrant workers to cities. In our study, migrant workers are more likely to move to cities with better education, more public facilities, higher coverage of urban pensions, and a cooler climate with more precipitation. Moreover, they prefer to migrate and live in cities with larger service agglomeration and employment, higher average wages, more job opportunities, and lower house prices. |
| Keywords: | Amenities, Migration, Cities |
| JEL: | F15 F23 |
| Date: | 2024–07–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2024-18 |
| By: | Moamen Gouda; Jingyeong Song |
| Abstract: | This study empirically explores the economic, political and cultural, and socio-demographic determinants of Koreans’ attitudes toward immigrants. Employing waves 6 and 7 of World Values Survey (WVS), our descriptive statistics show that Koreans, on average, are becoming more acceptable to foreigners living in Korea. Our results show that economic determinants, as well as educational attainment, were consistently playing a significant role in shaping Koreans’ perception of immigrants. Socio-demographic factors and only a few political variables were significant in the period 2017-2020. We discuss this result and argue that, despite the looming demographic crisis, Koreans’ attitude towards immigration is based on economic underpinnings rather than on political ones. |
| Keywords: | immigration, South Korea, World Values Survey, attitudes |
| JEL: | F22 J15 J61 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11354 |
| By: | Alho, Juha |
| Abstract: | Abstract The updating of the Statistics Finland population forecast occurred in an exceptionally difficult circumstance, in 2024. What would be the effect of COVID19 on mortality and immigration? Will the collapse of fertility that started in 2010, continue? Also the war in Ukraine, and the structural change in immigration, had to be assessed for the drawing up of a trend forecast. In a critical evaluation, the choices made by the forecasters regarding mortality, fertility, and the immigration in the first coming years appear well founded. Using tools of statistical time-series analysis, the level of net migration for 2022–2023 was estimated. This can be taken as the estimate of the level over the long term, in a trend forecast. The estimate is 24 000. This is lower than 40 000 that was used in the update. In a comparison to the recent forecasts in Norway and Sweden, we find that even this level is higher than that assumed in those countries. The conclusion is to produce an alternate update that replicates the assumptions of Statistics Fin- land as regards mortality, fertility, and short-term net migration, but assumes that the long-term level of net migration equals 24 000. |
| Keywords: | Fertility, Immigration, Mortality, Net migration, Trend forecast uncertainty |
| JEL: | J61 J31 D24 |
| Date: | 2024–11–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:briefs:142 |
| By: | Vasiliki Fouka; Theo Serlin |
| Abstract: | How does economic modernization affect group identity? Modernization theory emphasizes how labor migration led to the adoption of common identities. Yet economic development may reduce incentives to emigrate, preserving local cultures. We study England and Wales during the Second Industrial Revolution, a period characterized by the development of new industries and declines in transportation and communication costs. Using microdata on individuals’ names and migration decisions, we quantify identity change and its variation across space. We develop and estimate a quantitative spatial model in which migration and cultural identities are inter-dependent. Different components of economic modernization had different effects on identity change. Falling migration costs homogenized peripheral regions. In contrast, industrial development led to heterogeneity, increasing the overall prevalence of the culture of London, while also creating local identity holdouts by reducing out-migration from industrializing peripheries. Modernization promotes both national identities and persistent local identities in peripheral regions that industrialize. |
| JEL: | J6 N0 N33 N63 Z1 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33114 |
| By: | Asad, Asad L. (Cornell University); Gonzalez-Rodriguez, Sofia; Ro, E Ju; Medina, Daniel Tovar; Mousa, Nora |
| Abstract: | This report describes how immigration advocates—people engaging in political or legal campaigns for, and/or offering direct services and support to, immigrants—understand their efforts to reduce or prevent the harms of the U.S. immigration system on immigrants and their families. We draw on interviews with 67 immigration advocates representing 76 immigrant-serving nonprofits across the United States between November 2021 and February 2023. The interviews affirm advocates and their organizations’ important frontline roles in reducing systemic harm by addressing immigrants’ immediate material, social, and/or legal needs. Yet, when it comes to preventing harm by reforming or transforming the immigration system, many advocates believe their efforts do little but maintain the system’s structure. Advocates attribute this dynamic to several sources, including the ever-evolving harms of the current system; the demands of the public and private funders their organizations rely on; intraorganizational challenges common to immigrant-serving organizations; and the perceived immovability of the national, state, and local political contexts they work in. We conclude with several immediate and long-range suggestions for immigration advocates to consider as they continue their work. |
| Date: | 2024–10–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:u78ks |
| By: | Peter Lambert; Chris Larkin |
| Abstract: | Since 2020, the dramatic rise in remote work has coincided with increased geographic mobility in the United States. We examine the relationship between these trends and their effects on the electoral landscape. Using IRS microdata, online job postings, and Census surveys, we find that remote work opportunities concentrate in Democratic-leaning areas, with interstate migration strongly linked to individuals who mostly work from home. Our analysis reveals significant population shifts from Democratic to Republican and swing regions, potentially impacting electoral outcomes in key battleground states. |
| Keywords: | remote work, geographic mobility, electoral demographics, political geography |
| Date: | 2024–11–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepops:67 |
| By: | Brian C. Fujiy |
| Abstract: | I causally estimate local knowledge spillovers in R&D and quantify their importance when implementing R&D policies. Using a new administrative panel on German inventors, I estimate these spillovers by isolating quasi-exogenous variation from the arrival of East German inventors across West Germany after the Reunification of Germany in 1990. Increasing the number of inventors by 1% increases inventor productivity by 0.4%. I build a spatial model of innovation, and show that these spillovers are crucial when reducing migration costs for inventors or implementing R&D subsidies to promote economic activity. |
| Keywords: | inventors, research and development, innovation, agglomeration, spillovers |
| JEL: | F16 J61 O4 O31 R12 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:24-59 |
| By: | Yi Wu; Kwan Ok Lee; Souneil Park |
| Abstract: | Existing evidence on residential migration has focused on patterns of leaving high-density central cities and moving into peri-urban areas after COVID-19. However, the discussion on variations in these patterns between neighborhoods within the central city has been largely neglected. We investigate whether the role of neighborhood quality to residential turnover has changed and how this quality affects the destination neighborhood choices of movers over different COVID-19 phases. In doing so, we use the monthly information of inter-neighborhood migration from more than 11.61 million mobile phone users in UK (25% market share) including more than 224.265 million pairs of movers between April 2019 and October 2022 in UK, which is linked to the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) of 4, 835 neighborhoods in London. We first report a significant increase in out-migration from London neighborhoods to commuting belt areas or even further after COVID-19. Next, we demonstrate that more deprived neighborhoods in London experienced a higher turnover by losing their residents to non-London and other London neighborhoods after the COVID-19 outbreak. This trend was strongest during COVID-19 but continued even when the COVID-19 faded out. Finally, we find a stronger sorting pattern by the quality of origin neighborhoods especially after the new normal started. Movers from more deprived London neighborhoods show a lower probability of upward mobility to both London and non-London destinations, relative to pre-COVID-19 periods. These findings on within-city variations in residential turnover and spatial sorting have important implications for residents' wellbeing and potential spatial segregation. |
| Keywords: | Big data; COVID-19; Neighborhood Quality; Residential Turnover |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2024–01–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2024-236 |