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on Economics of Human Migration |
| By: | Zhao Jin; Amir Kermani; Timothy McQuade |
| Abstract: | We examine the performance of startups co-founded by immigrant and native teams. Leveraging unique data linking startups to founders' and employees' employment and education histories, we find native-migrant teams outperform native-only and migrant-only teams. Native-migrant startups have larger employment three years after founding, are more likely to secure funding, access larger funding rounds, and achieve more successful exits. An instrumental variables strategy based on native shares in university-degree programs confirms native-migrant teams are larger and more likely to receive funding. Superior access to diverse labor pools, successful VCs, and expanded product markets are key factors in driving native-migrant outperformance. |
| JEL: | F22 G24 L26 M13 O32 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33804 |
| By: | Paolo Croce (Bank of Italy, Economics, Statistics and Research DG, Economic History Division); Matteo Filippi (University of Zurich); Paolo Piselli (Bank of Italy); Andrea Ramazzotti (Università di Napoli Federico II and CSEF) |
| Abstract: | Internal migration facilitates an efficient allocation of labor within the economy, but are its sending and receiving areas affected differently? We address this question through the lens of Italy during the Golden Age (1950s-1970s), a period of population reshuffling with no parallel in the country’s history. Exploiting detailed spatial data on migratory flows, we can characterize the impact of short- and long-distance migration on economic development and structural change in the provinces of origin and destination. To tackle endogeneity of migration flows, we build on recent advances in the shift-share IVs literature: we interact past interwar government-authorized migrations with employment growth during the Golden Age to estimate exogenous short-distance migrations; origin-destination railway distances with provinces’ employment growth for long-distance ones. We find that short-distance emigration negatively affected origin provinces’ value added per capita mostly through lower business creation and productivity, while it determined even larger productivity gains in destination provinces. Similarly, although short-distance immigration boosted structural change away from agriculture in favor of the industrial sector, emigration curbs it in the provinces of origin, by reducing employment, value added and productivity in industry. We do not find comparably strong results for long-distance flows, which are shown to negatively affect origin provinces mostly through the employment rate, while the effects on productivity are limited; receiving provinces are also not as affected. We attribute the difference between short and long-distance effects to selection by type of migrants, where the most productive ones tend to favor nearby destinations. |
| Keywords: | Internal migration, Regional development, Economic growth |
| JEL: | J61 N14 O12 O15 |
| Date: | 2025–06–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:751 |
| By: | Davide M. Coluccia; Gaia Dossi |
| Abstract: | Novel products, processes and technologies are important drivers of economic growth. Davide Coluccia and Gaia Dossi show how migrants from Britain to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century not only took new ideas with them, but also helped to bring American innovations back to the old country. |
| Keywords: | age of mass migration, innovation, networks, out-migration |
| Date: | 2025–06–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:708 |
| By: | Francesco Ferlenga; Stephanie Kang |
| Abstract: | We study how expanding immigrants’ rights affects their political and social integration by exploiting Romania’s accession to the EU in 2007, which granted municipal voting and residency rights to Romanian immigrants in Italy. Using an event-study analysis at the municipality level, we find three key results. First, enfranchisement increased Romanians’ turnout and the likelihood of electing Romanian-born councilors in municipal elections, particularly in competitive races. An instrumented difference-in-differences strategy shows that this effect is driven by the enfranchisement of preexisting immigrants, not by new arrivals. Second, the rate of consent to organ donation among Romanian immigrants increased after 2007, indicating that the expansion of rights extends beyond political representation to prosocial behavior. However, we also find that the presence of immigrants still increases the probability of right-leaning party victories and municipal spending on public security, while reducing spending on social programs. This suggests that native backlash to immigrant presence outweighs the political influence of newly enfranchised immigrant communities in shaping local electoral outcomes. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:not:notnic:2025-04 |
| By: | Massimiliano Coda Zabetta; Aldo Geuna |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between international postdoctoral stays and academic career advancement among researchers returning to the Italian university system. Using a unique dataset of Italian PhD holders observed over a 30-year period, we analyze how international postdoctoral stays are associated with two key career outcomes: (i) the duration between PhD completion and first appointment as Assistant Professor (time-to-entry), and (ii) the duration between Assistant Professor appointment and promotion to Associate Professor (time-to-promotion). We identify international postdoctoral stays through bibliometric indicators by tracing foreign affiliations in researchers’ publication records and examine how their association with career progression is moderated by institutional inbreeding, homecountry linkages, and the persistence of international research networks. To explore these relationships, we apply a Cox proportional hazards model combined with entropy balancing. We validate the results of our analysis using curriculum vitae information for a subsample of researchers. Our findings show that international postdoctoral stays are associated with slower entry into the academic system but are positively related to shorter time-to-promotion. Notably, this association is strongest for researchers promoted at universities different from their alma mater. We also observe that maintaining a strong home-country publishing network is associated with quicker entry, while high persistence in postdocperiod co-author networks is linked to faster promotion. |
| Keywords: | Academic career; International postdoctoral mobility; Social capital; Inbreeding. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wpaper:742 |
| By: | Léa Marchal (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, CNRS, Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne); Claire Naiditch (Université Lille, CNRS, IESEG School of Management, LEM; Institut Convergences Migrations); Betül Simsek (Institute of Law and Economics - Hamburg University) |
| Abstract: | Foreign aid is often promoted as a way to curb emigration by improving welfare in countries of origin. However, the effectiveness of such a policy remains debated. To contribute to this debate, we develop a random utility maximisation model yielding a gravity equation, which we estimate using OECD migration and aid data for 2011-2019. We exploit the differences between bilateral aid and multilateral aid, for which donors are masked, to isolate the donor-specific and non-donor-specific effects of aid on migration. We show that aid increases rather than reduces migration. The donor-specific channel plays a dominant role in explaining this positive effect, which is primarily conveyed through an information channel |
| Keywords: | Aid; gravity; migration; RUM |
| JEL: | F22 F35 O15 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:25015 |
| By: | Torben M. Andersen |
| Abstract: | Migration is vividly considered to be a particular challenge for extended welfare states like the Nordics since high taxes and entitlement to the social safety net and provision of welfare services may create both pull and push effects in migration. The financial viability of the model is challenged if immigrants tend to be net beneficiaries and emigrants net contributors to the welfare arrangement. Critical for this issue is the labour market performance of migrants. The experience of the Nordic countries is reviewed, and the possibility of reconciling the welfare model with migration is discussed, focusing in particular on employment and public finances. Policy responses to protect welfare systems by introducing conditionalities in the social safety net based on residency and employment, as well as differentiated and selective immigration rules, are discussed. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11955 |
| By: | Andreas B. Vortisch; Evangelos Paschalidis; Michel Beine; Michel Bierlaire |
| Abstract: | On 5 September 2015, the German government suspended the EU's Dublin III regulations, allowing all asylum seekers to apply for asylum in Germany. This policy change motivated more than one million people, especially Syrians, Afghans, and Iraqis, to enter the country. This study examines the impact of this policy change on migration aspirations and actions in 11 Arab countries, assessing whether it increased migration pressure toward Germany. We find that while the policy raised migration aspirations, it did not significantly affect concrete migration plans and therefore immigration pressures. Instead, age and personal networks abroad play more decisive roles in shaping such plans. Additionally, territorial control by IS in certain regions served as a distinct push factor. We also analyze migration preparations and find that age and networks abroad remain key determinants. Our results also suggest that the policy may have altered the composition of those planning to migrate. |
| Keywords: | migration aspirations, migration plans, immigration policies, refugees |
| JEL: | C25 F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11952 |
| By: | Yuki, Kazuhiro |
| Abstract: | Economic disparity between different ethnic groups is substantial in many countries. In developing countries, ethnic inequality appears to significantly impede economic development. In developed countries, the economic and cultural integration of increasing numbers of immigrants into society is a major concern. Income redistribution in a broader sense is a natural candidate for addressing ethnic inequality. Empilical study suggests that it also seems to contribute to development by reducing inequality and increasing educational investment among the poor. However, the scale of redistribution limited in many countries. Empirical findings suggest two potential explanations: the presence of culturally diverse ethnic groups and weak national identity. These findings raise various questions. Under what conditions do inter-ethnic cultural differences diminish over time? Is cultural convergence necessary to expand redistribution and reduce inter-ethnic income disparity? Does it always lead to such outcomes? Under what circumstances do large segments of the population share national identity? Is national identity necessary to increase redistribution? Does it always result in increased redistribution? How do cultural differences and national identity interact? To address these questions, this paper develops and examines a dynamic model of income redistribution and educational investment augmented with cultural change and social identification. |
| Keywords: | culture, development, ethnic inequality, human capital, redistribution, social identity |
| JEL: | I25 J15 J24 O15 Z10 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:124753 |
| By: | Hammer, Luisa (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Kassam, Kamal (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Kosyakova, Yuliya (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Gallegos-Torres, Katia (IAB und ZEW); Olbrich, Lukas (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Koch, Theresa (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany); Wagner, Simon (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany) |
| Abstract: | "On December 8, 2024, the sudden collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, abruptly changed Syria’s political landscape and reshaped the return prospects for millions of Syrians living abroad. We exploit this unanticipated regime change as a natural experiment to estimate the causal impact of homeland developments on refugees’ settlement and return intentions. Drawing on novel survey data from Germany, launched just days before Assad’s fall, we find that the regime collapse significantly affected the expressed settlement intentions of Syrians in Germany. Respondents interviewed afterward were more likely to express temporary settlement intentions, more likely to report emigration considerations, and more likely to express uncertainty about their future in Germany. However, we find no effect on concrete short-term emigration plans, suggesting that increased return aspirations reflect forward-looking intentions rather than immediate behavioral change. Further analyses shows that legal security in Germany and weaker social or emotional integration correlate with a stronger preference for temporary stay." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en)) |
| Keywords: | IAB-Befragung International Mobility Panel of Migrants in Germany |
| JEL: | D74 F22 J15 |
| Date: | 2025–06–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202509 |