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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Caselli, Mauro; Traverso, Silvio |
| Abstract: | This study examines whether trade competition from low-wage countries (LWCs) can influence immigration patterns in an advanced economy. We focus on Italy between 2003 and 2013, a period characterized by rising market pressure from China and Eastern Europe. Using census data on sectoral employment, administrative records on immigrants by nationality, and disaggregated bilateral trade data, we investigate whether heightened import competition acted as a pull factor for migrant workers at the local labor market level. To identify the exogenous component of these trade shocks, we adopt a shift-share instrumental variable strategy, while disaggregating immigrant data by nationality allows us to control in detail for the role of local networks and for bilateral push and pull factors. Our findings indicate that trade competition from LWCs significantly increased local immigrant shares. We hypothesize, and provide indirect evidence, that firms under competitive pressure tried to cut labor costs by relying on a more flexible, lower-paid workforce, primarily composed of foreign workers. |
| Keywords: | Import competition, International migration, Trade shocks, Italy |
| JEL: | F14 F16 F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1562 |
| By: | Nur Bilge (Université de Lille, CNRS, IESEG School of Management, UMR 9221 Lille Economie Management, F-59000 Lille, France); Simone Moriconi (IESEG School of Management, Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 9221 - LEM - Lille Economie Management, F-59000 Lille, France, CESifo, Munich, Germany) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses data from the Turkish Household Labour Force Survey (2005–2020) to examine how Syrian refugee inflows affect gender inequality within households. Employing a shiftshare IV strategy based on the historical share of Arabic-speaking populations in Turkey in 1965, we find that increased refugee inflows are linked to greater intra-family gender inequality in households where both spouses work. Although the average effect is modest, it becomes sizeable when family dynamics are considered too. A 10% rise in refugee stock leads to a 3.85% increase in the gender productivity penalty for households with at least one child, while no effect is observed in childless families. These findings suggest that refugee migrants are closer substitutes for native female than male workers. Finally, we argue that conservative cultural norms may contribute to undermining the labor market position of native married women as the supply of migrant male workers grows. |
| Keywords: | refugees; household; inequality; local labour market |
| JEL: | D63 E24 F22 J12 J61 R23 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ies:wpaper:e202418 |
| By: | Aliakbar Akbaritabar (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); José Ignacio Carrasco Armijo (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany); Athina Anastasiadou (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Reviews of migration theories start from more classical and deterministic views and follow with more recent developments that consider networks, cumulative causation, planned behaviour, agency, and aspiration/capability frameworks. One of the less discussed dimensions is gender differences in how one’s network affects their migration decision before, during, and after migration. In this chapter, we intend to provide an overview and critically delve into the literature discussing the network’s effect on international migration and show the underexplored dimension of gender differences. The chapter has an additional focus on a subset of the highly-skilled population i.e., the case of migration of scholars, and is concluded by avenues for future research. |
| Keywords: | Global, World, computational demography, computational social science, gender, internal migration, international migration, network, sex, social network |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2025-004 |
| By: | Christopher Sichko; Ariell Zimran; Aparna Howlader |
| Abstract: | We study racial differences in internal migration responses to one of the most severe climatic shocks in US history—the drought of the 1930s. Using data from the 1940 census on 65 million adults, we find that individuals exposed to more severe drought between 1935 and 1940 were more likely to make an inter-county move and that this responsiveness was greater for black individuals than white individuals. This racial difference was particularly pronounced among the rural population. Black individuals' migration premium came despite their systematic disadvantage in the economy of the 1930s and evidence along dimensions other than race that disadvantage limited individuals' ability to adapt to the drought through migration. Federal relief spending under the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) magnified this racial difference, reducing the migration response to drought for white individuals and increasing it for black individuals. These results help to better understand how the reaction of different groups aggregate to determine the magnitude and composition of migration responses to natural disasters, as well as the roles of migration and government policy in disadvantaged groups' responses to natural disasters. |
| JEL: | D63 J15 N32 N52 O13 O15 Q12 R11 R23 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33409 |
| By: | Barboni, Giorgia (Warwick Business School, Warwick University); de Roux, Nicolás (Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia); Perez-Cardona, Santiago (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | We conducted a telephonic survey experiment with 2, 115 Venezuelan migrants to examine how their perceptions of Colombian’s social acceptance influence their engagement with the financial system. We find that 66% of the subjects we interviewed underestimate the extent to which natives are open towards migrants. We then show that providing accurate information reduces belief errors by 23 percentage points. This correction increases migrants’ willingness to interact with the financial system. In particular, individuals who initially underestimated Colombian’s acceptance of migrants are 15% more likely to visit a bank and request financial information in the next two months relative to the control group. These individuals also show a 12% increase in the willingness to open a digital wallet and an 18% increase in the willingness to open a savings account. These effects are concentrated among individuals who have not experienced episodes of discrimination in Colombia. We find no effects on the willingness to apply for a loan or an insurance product, consistent with the idea that supply barriers play a significant role for the financial inclusion of vulnerable populations. Using an instrumental variable strategy, we show that the increased willingness to engage with the financial system is driven by belief updating. In a short follow-up survey six months later, we find that belief corrections persist over time, and while we are underpowered to detect significant behavioral effects, the patterns remain consistent with the baseline results. Our findings highlight that misperceptions about native’s social acceptance of migrants can drive self-exclusion from the financial system. |
| Keywords: | Financial Inclusion, Migration, Beliefs, Social Acceptance JEL Classification: G51, D91, F22, D83 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:745 |
| By: | M. Altaf Hossain (Geary Institute for Public Policy, University College Dublin, Ireland); Michelle Norris (Geary Institute for Public Policy, University College Dublin, Ireland) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the results of ethnographic research on the strategies that recently arrived, low -income Bangladeshi migrants use to negotiate the highly inflated and undersupplied housing market in Dublin, Ireland. This analysis draws on Clapham’s (2005) widely used ‘housing pathways’ framework but extends this to incorporate insights from the literature on precarity. Thus, research participants’ housing pathways since their arrival in Ireland and how these were shaped by multiple and insertional precarities (in terms of legal status, employment, income, housing and racial and religious minority status), personal priorities and cultural norms are explored. The influence of these factors on migrants’ understandings of the meaning of home are also examined. The key insight offered here is that this combination of factors shaped distinctive housing pathways among Bangladeshi migrants’ which commonly encompass residential suburbanisation and sharing/ subletting of private rented accommodation as widespread strategies to manage housing and other precarities, coupled with the sacrifice of comfort, privacy and family life. These factors, in turn, shape distinctive understandings of the meaning of home among this population, which are instrumentalist and expansive and also focused on the aspects of the dwelling that support their religious and cultural traditions. |
| Keywords: | housing precarity; migration; sub-letting; private rented housing |
| Date: | 2025–02–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucd:wpaper:202501 |
| By: | Jacob R. Brown; Enrico Cantoni; Ryan Enos; Vincent Pons; Emilie Sartre |
| Abstract: | Using data on the residential location and migration for every voter in U.S. states recording partisan registration between 2008–2020, we find that residential segregation between Democrats and Republicans has increased year over year at all geographic levels, from neighborhoods to Congressional Districts. Individual demographic information reveals that segregation increases for voters of most demographic backgrounds, but that Democratic and Republican trending places have starkly different demographic profiles, thus contributing to the growing confluence of demographics, partisanship, and geography in the United States. We further decompose the change in segregation into different sources. Increases in segregation have not been driven primarily by migration but rather by generational change, as young voters enter the electorate, causing some places to become more homogeneously Democratic, and by existing voters leaving the Democratic party and causing other places to become more Republican. |
| JEL: | D72 P00 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33422 |
| By: | Olga Alonso-Villar; Coral del Río |
| Abstract: | In this paper, firstly, we offer a methodological framework to assess the between-school sorting of any target group of students (grouped by either family socioeconomic status, nativity, race, ethnicity, or any other characteristic) taking into account school resources adjusted for educational needs. We develop a family of indicators, which meet several basic criteria, with which we can analyze school segregation and school opportunities to learn in an integrated way. Secondly, we provide a comparative analysis in Europe of the between-school sorting of students by birthplace drawing on PISA 2022. Distinguishing among students from three family backgrounds (natives, first-generation immigrants, and second-generation immigrants), we document that, in many countries, segregation is accompanied by important differences about the human resources per pupil of schools, especially when school educational needs are taken into account, which accentuates the transmission of inequality. However, not all countries share this pattern or do not do it with the same intensity. |
| Keywords: | School segregation, school resources, school needs, immigrant children |
| JEL: | D63 I24 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vig:wpaper:2501 |
| By: | Yajna Govind (CBS - Copenhagen Business School [Copenhagen], WIL - World Inequality Lab); Louis Sirugue (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, INED - Institut national d'études démographiques) |
| Abstract: | We examine how changing the costs of acquiring citizenship translates into naturalization decisions for second-generation immigrants, and the effect of naturalization on their labor market outcomes. We exploit the abolition of mandatory military service in France as an exogenous reduction in the cost of citizenship for men. We find that the reform induced a jump in male naturalization rates, entirely driven by European Union citizens. Using a Synthetic Difference-in-Differences, we show that their probability to be in employment consequently increased by 2 percentage points, mainly through a reduction in inactivity rather than unemployment. We provide suggestive evidence that this effect is mainly driven by an increase in public-sector employment and a reduction in self-employment, and is associated with an enhanced sense of belonging. |
| Keywords: | Naturalization, Military service, Human capital, Labor market |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-04273821 |
| By: | Eric Chyn; Robert Collinson; Danielle H. Sandler |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effects of the largest residential racial desegregation initiative in U.S. history, the Gautreaux Assisted Housing Program. From the late 1970s to the 1990s, Gautreaux moved thousands of Black families into predominantly white neighborhoods to support racial and economic integration. We link historical program records to administrative data and use plausibly exogenous variation in neighborhood placements to study how desegregating moves impact children in the long-run. Being placed in the predominantly white neighborhoods targeted by the program significantly increases children’s future lifetime earnings and wealth. These moves also increase the likelihood of marriage and particularly raise the probability of being married to a white spouse. Moreover, placements through Gautreaux impact neighborhood choices in adulthood. Those placed in predominantly white neighborhoods during childhood live in more racially diverse areas with higher rates of upward mobility nearly 40 years later. |
| JEL: | H00 I30 J01 R38 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33427 |